Temperature trends in the lower latitudes countries of the continent of Africa (1901 – 2015)
International Journal of Development Research
Temperature trends in the lower latitudes countries of the continent of Africa (1901 – 2015)
Received 28th May, 2019; Received in revised form 20th June, 2019; Accepted 24th July, 2019; Published online 28th August, 2019
Copyright © 2019, Rafael Infante. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The temperature trends from 1901 to 2015 for the African countries located between the latitudes15oNorth to 15o South are presented. The area of study has different climate and topographic characteristics. The world’s second largest tropical forest is located in this area, is also an area of unique biodiversity, and a significant carbon sink. The data shows a temperature increase with time and avariable temperature increase rate. Average temperature differences of up to 2.1oC are observed between the years 2000 to 2015 compared to the years 1901 to 1999. The temperatures increase rates with time are mostly positive and the increase rates are higher for the years 2000 to 2015 compared to the years 1901 to 1999. Comparison of the increase in temperature between inland countries and coastal countries showed no significant differences. Average temperature increase rates were positive for the area studied with a much sharper rate observed since 1970. The warming trend observed agrees with projection and global models.
