TITLE:
Minimum and Maximum Temperature Trends in Congo-Brazzaville: 1932-2010
AUTHORS:
Gaston Samba, Dominique Nganga
KEYWORDS:
Congo Republic, Temperatures Maximum and Minimum, Temperature Trends
JOURNAL NAME:
Atmospheric and Climate Sciences,
Vol.4 No.3,
July
28,
2014
ABSTRACT:
Maximum and minimum
temperatures time series of Congo-Brazzaville are analyzed for trend and discontinuities over the period 1932 to 2010. Temperatures series show an irregular increase. A total of 8 synoptic stations show positive
trends in their annual mean maximum temperature series, and 7 of them are
significant, with higher trends for urban stations. Annual mean minimum
temperature showed 6 stations having positive trends. This increase is in relation with observations at regional scale.
However, the differences are observed between large towns (Brazzaville and
Pointe-Noire), and small or rural towns (Dolisie, Sibiti, Impfondo, Djambala).
Trends in diurnal temperature range (DTR) are large positive trends in maximum
temperature that are mainly observed in cities. The curve of DTR shows a
decreasing trend which indicates the increasing of minimum temperatures. The
effects of urbanization on temperature trends are investigated. Most stations
regarded as urban stations are still useful for trend analysis; being situated
on the suburban of the studied cities, they are therefore, not substantially
influenced by the urban heat island.