Trends in surface air temperature data over Turkey

• Published in: International journal of climatology Vol. 17; no. 5; pp. 511 - 520
• Main Author: KADIOGLU, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01-04-1997; Wiley
• Subjects: Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Mann–Kendall test; Meteorology; Other topics in atmospheric geophysics; run test; temperature maxima; temperature minima; trend analysis; Turkey; Rank statistic; Atmospheric temperature; Turkey; Trend analysis; Time series; Minimum temperature; Maximum temperature
• ISSN: 0899-8418; 1097-0088
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0088(199704)17:5<511::AID-JOC130>3.0.CO;2-0

Eighteen stations are considered for the study of climatic records over Turkey in search for possible trends. Mean, unfiltered, seasonal and annual maximum and minimum temperatures are analysed using the Mann–Kendall rank statistic to demonstrate any existence of possible trends.
The analyses indicate that the mean annual temperature records in Turkey have a warming trend over the 1939 to 1989 period, but a cooling trend from 1955 to 1989. These trends in mean annual temperatures, however, are not statistically significant. Comparatively greater warming effects have occurred in spring and winter minimum rather than the maximum temperature records. A regional increase in the mean minimum temperature around 1955 is attributed to the urban heat island effect. In general, general circulation models (GCM) predictions are consistent with the sign of the trends only in Turkish climate records during the entire 1939 to 1989 period © 1977 by the Royal Meteorological Society. Int. J. Climatol. 17: 511–520 (1997).