Comparing climate change indices between  a northern (arid) and a southern (humid)  basin in Mexico during the last decades

Salvador Castillo-Liñan,Martín José Montero-Martínez,Julio Sergio Santana-Sepúlveda,Naydú Isabel Pérez-Ortiz,Óscar Pita-Díaz

doi:10.5194/asr-15-231-2018

Comparing climate change indices between a northern (arid) and a southern (humid) basin in Mexico during the last decades

Salvador Castillo-Liñan, Martín José Montero-Martínez + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-15-231-2018

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Abstract

Abstract. It is a matter of current study to determine potential climate changes in different parts of the world, especially in regions like a basin which has the potential to affect socioeconomic and environmental issues in a defined area. This study provides a comparison between several climate change indices trends of two very different basins in Mexico, one located in the northern arid region (the Conchos River basin) and the other in the southern humid area (the Usumacinta River basin). First, quality control, homogenization, and completion of the missing data were applied before calculating the climate change indices and their respective trends for the combined period 1961–1994. A clear warming signal was found for the two basins in addition to an increment in the DTR, in agreement with other studies in Mexico. Also, the Conchos River basin was found to be more humid and the Usumacinta River basin drier, in accordance to a supposed seesaw behavior indicated in previous analysis.

Highlights

The Conchos River basin is located at the northern part of Mexico and covers an area around 72 000 km2 and its range of altitudes goes from 1000 to almost 2500 m, most of the region is enclosed within an arid area with a total annual precipitation ranging from 200 to 850 mm
For Mexico, like in many parts of the world, there is a lack of quantity and quality in the climate data, which translates in very few studies related to trends and evidence of climate change in the country (Redmond and Abatzoglou, 2014). Some of those studies have shown that the Diurnal Temperature Range (DTR) – which is itself one of the indices recommended by ETCCDI – is increasing in the recent past over Mexico, mainly because the maximum temperatures are warming at a higher rate than the minimum temperatures (Englehart and Douglas, 2005; Pavia et al, 2009)
The official climate data from CLICOM (CLImatological COMputing) historical database was used for Mexico

Summary

Introduction

The Conchos River basin (hereinafter CRB) is located at the northern part of Mexico and covers an area around 72 000 km and its range of altitudes goes from 1000 to almost 2500 m, most of the region is enclosed within an arid area with a total annual precipitation ranging from 200 to 850 mm. For Mexico, like in many parts of the world, there is a lack of quantity and quality in the climate data, which translates in very few studies related to trends and evidence of climate change in the country (Redmond and Abatzoglou, 2014). Some of those studies have shown that the Diurnal Temperature Range (DTR) – which is itself one of the indices recommended by ETCCDI – is increasing in the recent past over Mexico, mainly because the maximum temperatures are warming at a higher rate than the minimum temperatures (Englehart and Douglas, 2005; Pavia et al, 2009). The scope of the present study provides a good opportunity to validate the above assumption even for the short period of time analyzed here

Data and methods

Results

Conclusions