Asymmetric Trends of Daily Maximum and Minimum Temperature

Authors

Thomas R. Karl, National Climatic Data Center
Philip D. Jones, University of East Anglia
Richard W. Knight, National Climatic Data Center
George Kukla, Columbia University
Neil Plummer, Bureau of Meteorology
Vyacheslav Razuvayev, Research Institute of Hydrometeorological Information
Kevin P. Gallo, National Climatic Data CenterFollow
Janette Lindseay, University of Wirswatersrand
Robert J. Charlson, University of Washington
Thomas C. Peterson, National Climatic Data Center

Date of this Version

1993

Comments

Published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Vol. 74, No. 6, June 1993.

Abstract

Monthly mean maximum and minimum temperatures for over 50% (10%) of the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere landmass, accounting for 37% of the global landmass, indicate that the rise of the minimum temperature has occurred at a rate three times that of the maximum temperature during the period 1951-90 (0.84°C versus 0.28°C). The decrease of the diumal temperature range is approximately equal to the increase of mean temperature. The asymmetry is detectable in all seasons and in most of the regions studied.