Abstract
Nature has been adversely affected by increasing industrialization, especially during the latter part of the last century, as a result of accelerating technological development, unplanned urbanization, incorrect agricultural policies and deforestation, which have contributed to the elevated concentration of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the environment. GHG accumulation has an adverse impact on meteorological and hydro-meteorological parameters, particularly temperature. Temperature plays a prominent and well-known role in evaporation, transpiration and changes in water demand, and thus significantly affects both water availability and food security. Therefore, a systematic understanding of temperature is important for fighting food insecurity and household poverty. Variations in temperature are often assessed and characterized through trend analysis. Hence, the objective of this paper is to determine long-term trends in mean monthly maximum and minimum air temperatures for the Maloti-Drakensberg region. The Mann–Kendall test, a non-parametric test, was applied on mean air temperature for the 1960–2016 period. A significant rising trend (p < 0.001) was detected with a yearly change in the long term annual mean maximum and mean minimum temperature by 0.03 °C/annum and 0.01 °C/annum, respectively. This knowledge has important implications for both the state of the environment and livelihoods in the region, since its use can be useful in planning and policymaking in water resource management, biodiversity conservation, agriculture, tourism and other sectors of the economy within the region.
Highlights
The warming of the climate system has been concluded in many researches carried out at different regions of the world [1]
Descriptive statistics of the annual average for maximum and minimum temperatures in the Maloti-Drakensberg region are summarized in Tables 1 and 2, respectively
Variability of temperature in the region is indicated by the coefficient of variability (CoV) of 3.3% for maximum temperature and
Summary
The warming of the climate system (i.e., the increase of mean temperature) has been concluded in many researches carried out at different regions of the world [1]. Africa is among the most vulnerable regions projected to be affected by climate change and variability, due to its low adaptability to the projected climate change impacts [2]. As the Earth warms, climate and weather variability will increase. Global warming will have significant consequences on the rate of occurrence and severity of extreme weather events, which are projected to increase in the rest of this century; this will result in serious consequences for human and natural systems and is expected to have many adverse impacts on the environment [3]. The higher temperatures and more frequent heat waves between 1961 and 2008 have been
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