Trends in Intra- and Inter-Annual Temperature Variabilities Across Sudan

Abstract

Four mean temperature variables, namely maximum (MAX), minimum (MIN), mean (MEAN) and diurnal temperature range (DTR), were considered for 14 selected observational stations throughout Sudan. The objectives were to investigate the seasonal and annual regimes, the seasonal and annual trends, the intra-annual variability (IAV) by the coefficient of variation (CV), and the interrelationships between the temperature variables and percent of possible sunshine. A mounting evidence of daytime and nighttime warming since the 1940s until 2005 is presented. The exception is the dry season which is dominated by daytime cooling attributable to the damping effect of dust haze/storms. Apparently, the progressive drought across inland locations has raised the MAXs, and to a lesser extent the MINs, of the wet season over those for the hot season. Accordingly, maximum rates of 0.451 and 0.336 degrees C decade(-1) were found for the nighttime and daytime temperatures, respectively. The extreme eastern and western locations have been frequently dominated by the warmest trend rates obtained nationwide. The prevalence of significant decreases (increases) of DTR is more apparent in the dry, hot and annual series (wet series). Depending on the temperature variable under consideration, many stations possessed significant trends toward either increased or decreased variability of the within-year monthly values, i.e. IAV. The correlation between the time series of annual CV and extreme values for each of the four temperature variables shows generally that warmer climate in Sudan is associated with higher intra-annual temperature variability and vise versa, i.e. the CV is directly correlated with the highest value within the year, but inversely correlated with the lowest one. The findings of this investigation also indicate that the DTR is directly related to percent of possible sunshine, but the relationship of the latter parameter is not so clear with MAX, MIN and MEAN.