TITLE:
Thermal Conditions in Córdoba City, Argentina, during 1960-2010 Period
AUTHORS:
Antonio C. de la Casa, Olga B. Nasello
KEYWORDS:
Maximum and Minimum Daily Temperature, Partial Trends, Urban Heat Island, Climate Change
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Climate Change,
Vol.3 No.2,
June
25,
2014
ABSTRACT:
The
present work analyzes daily minimum (Tmin)
and maximum (Tmax)
temperature series from Córdoba Observatory weather station, which is located
near the center of the city of Córdoba, Argentina, and from the Pajas Blancas
and Pilar observatories, in order to have a reference counterpart of regional
climate. The air temperature in Córdoba city during 1960-2010 period shows
lower/higher frequency of Tmin categories lower/higher than 15°C, with respect to rural thermal conditions. Tmax categories higher/lower
than 30°C, in turn, presented higher/lower frequency in the city. While the
mean annual Tmin showed a
significant positive trend in the entire region in the study period, Tmax presented no significant
changes over time. The difference between urban and rural thermal regimes
remained uniform throughout the study period, so the process of urbanization
does not seem to have changed the Urban heat island status measure from Córdoba
Observatory, even though the population of the metropolis has doubled. Although
nocturnal thermal conditions have changed over the period, particularly in
urban areas, there has been no change in the regime of extreme daytime
temperatures across the region. The annual mean Tmin increase is not monotonic, but presents a significant
positive partial trend until a breakpoint around 1990, and then becomes neutral
or negative and loses significance. For the annual mean Tmax, the partial trend slopes are not significant in
any case, so the variation of annual mean thermal amplitude is due mainly to
the increase of the Tmin,
probably associated with increased rainfall in the region.