Trends in Extreme Temperature Events over India During 1969–2012

Abstract

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in their recent report has stated that effects of climate change will lead to more extreme temperatures and more hot days than cold days (IPCC 2013). It has now become increasingly evident that one of the major impacts of global warming on the earth’s surface will be in the form of increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. According to IPCC (2007), the global mean surface temperatures have increased by 0.76 ± 0.18 °C over the last 100 years (1906–2005). A great number of research papers focusing on extreme temperature on global, regional and national scales have been written by many researchers worldwide (e.g. Zhai and Pan 2003; Griffiths et al. 2005; Klein Tank et al. 2006). The percentile-based temperature indices have been used to analyze changes in temperature extremes for various parts of the world (e.g. Peterson et al. 2002; Vincent et al. 2005; Zhang et al. 2005; Klein Tank et al. 2006; Alexander et al. 2006). Tebaldi et al. (2006) have shown that the twenty-first century would bring global changes in temperature extremes consistent with a warming climate.