American Association of Geographers West and East Lakes Divisions Annual Meeting Abstract
I will present results that were recently submitted to the journal Climatic Change at an October 13-15 regional Geography conference in Marquette, MI. Here is the abstract:
Previous research suggests that the southern Appalachians and southeast United States have experienced cooling temperature trends since the beginning of the twentieth century. A statistically significant cooling trend of -0.67 °C is in fact confirmed here when considering all available stations and extending analysis from 1900-2015. However, surface stations throughout the region are overwhelmingly placed in low-elevation sites less than 1000 meters above sea level. Given that high-elevation environments often possess similar climates and ecosystems to high-latitude environments it is hypothesized that high-elevation sites experience different trends when compared to the overall temperature trend for the region. Monthly observation summaries from the Global Historical Climatology Network spanning 1951-2015 indicate that statistically significant warming trends are indeed present for minimum temperature, maximum temperature, mean temperature, extreme minimum temperature, and extreme maximum temperature for stations located at elevations exceeding 1000 meters above sea level. In addition, temperature range generally decreased with many significant trends. Significant trends were more common in the 1000-1499 meters above sea level range compared to the ≥ 1500-meter category. Statistically significant cooling trends did not exist during 1951-2015. Instead, increases of 1 °C were common and approached 6 °C for some months and variables over the 65-year study period.
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