CHANGES IN DAILY TEMPERATURE EXTREMES OVER BENIN BETWEEN 1970 AND 2015

Abstract

Four indices were used to assess changes in both cold and hot tails of the daily temperature distributions. The analysis is based on long-term daily maximum and minimum temperature spanning the period from 1970 to 2015. The linear trend in the derived temperature indices was computed using the ordinary least squares (OLS) method. The significance of the trend was assessed using the Mann-Kendall test. Results showed significant changes in temperature extremes corresponding to a warming, especially for cold nights and warm nights. The results indicate a significant decrease in the frequency of cold nights (trend = -14.2 days/decade) and a significant increase in the occurrence of warm nights (14.6 days/decade). Daily maximum temperature indices showed similar changes but with smaller magnitudes.