Long Term Temperature Trends in Four Different Climatic Zones of Saudi Arabia
Prof Dr Lekshmi Vijayan Krishna

Abstract
Climate change and its variation studies is a hot topic in global climatic research. The warming trend has been characterized by a decrease in the Diurnal Temperature Range (DTR) as a result of an increase in minimum temperatures experienced during night time. Many factors have been identified as possible reasons for this decrease in DTR like the cloud cover, increase in greenhouse gases, increased urbanization etc. This study aims to find out trends in the maximum and minimum temperatures observed in 4 different climatic zones of Saudi Arabia. Meteorological data for 4 cities representing separate climatic zones was collected from the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment for the period 1984-2013. The results indicate a significant rise in temperature in all the stations. However the distribution of warming trends was not uniform. The minimum temperature is generally found to increase at a higher rate compared to the maximum temperature. The decreasing trend in DTR is found to be maximum for the capital city of Riyadh followed by the new industrial city of Tabuk.

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