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Assessing the Long-Term Changes in Selected Meteorological Parameters over the North-Rift, Kenya: A Regional Climatology Perspective

Published in Hydrology (Volume 12, Issue 3)
Received: 7 July 2024     Accepted: 12 August 2024     Published: 26 September 2024
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Abstract

Understanding long-term trends in climatic variables is essential for assessing climate change impacts on regional ecosystems and human livelihoods. A regional analysis of climatic variables over some domains is inevitable due to their geographical location and importance to the agricultural sector. Due to the aforementioned demands, the current study analyzes, trends in precipitation (from Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS)), and minimum and maximum temperatures (from TerraClimate) over the North-Rift region of Kenya for over thirty (30) years using satellite data. The seasonal decomposition analysis was performed for each variable to explore the trends and residual components. The findings by the current study indicate that most counties, have experienced enhance precipitation which corresponds to a declining diurnal temperature from 2019 onwards. The seasonality component reveals repeated patterns or variations occurring at steady intervals within each region's data, hence suggesting a distinct regional seasonal trend in the selected meteorological parameters over time. Basically, all counties have reported a relatively constant variability in both maximum and minimum temperatures during the study period except from 2017 onwards where significant variability in the two properties is recorded. In conclusion, the foregoing results that the selected climatic variables exhibit significant spatiotemporal and interannual variability.

Published in Hydrology (Volume 12, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.hyd.20241203.12
Page(s) 59-76
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

North Rift, Climate Change, Rainfall, Temperature, East Africa, Long Term Trends, Climatic Variables, CHIRPS and TerraClimate Datasets

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Makokha, J. W., Masayi, N. N., Barasa, P., Ikoha, P. A., Konje, M. M., et al. (2024). Assessing the Long-Term Changes in Selected Meteorological Parameters over the North-Rift, Kenya: A Regional Climatology Perspective. Hydrology, 12(3), 59-76. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hyd.20241203.12

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    ACS Style

    Makokha, J. W.; Masayi, N. N.; Barasa, P.; Ikoha, P. A.; Konje, M. M., et al. Assessing the Long-Term Changes in Selected Meteorological Parameters over the North-Rift, Kenya: A Regional Climatology Perspective. Hydrology. 2024, 12(3), 59-76. doi: 10.11648/j.hyd.20241203.12

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    AMA Style

    Makokha JW, Masayi NN, Barasa P, Ikoha PA, Konje MM, et al. Assessing the Long-Term Changes in Selected Meteorological Parameters over the North-Rift, Kenya: A Regional Climatology Perspective. Hydrology. 2024;12(3):59-76. doi: 10.11648/j.hyd.20241203.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.hyd.20241203.12,
      author = {John Wanjala Makokha and Nelly Nambande Masayi and Peter Barasa and Peters Anselemo Ikoha and Martha Muthoni Konje and Jonathan Mutonyi and Victor Samuel Okello and Alice Nambiro Wechuli and Collins Otieno Majengo and Geoffrey Wanjala Khamala},
      title = {Assessing the Long-Term Changes in Selected Meteorological Parameters over the North-Rift, Kenya: A Regional Climatology Perspective
    },
      journal = {Hydrology},
      volume = {12},
      number = {3},
      pages = {59-76},
      doi = {10.11648/j.hyd.20241203.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hyd.20241203.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hyd.20241203.12},
      abstract = {Understanding long-term trends in climatic variables is essential for assessing climate change impacts on regional ecosystems and human livelihoods. A regional analysis of climatic variables over some domains is inevitable due to their geographical location and importance to the agricultural sector. Due to the aforementioned demands, the current study analyzes, trends in precipitation (from Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS)), and minimum and maximum temperatures (from TerraClimate) over the North-Rift region of Kenya for over thirty (30) years using satellite data. The seasonal decomposition analysis was performed for each variable to explore the trends and residual components. The findings by the current study indicate that most counties, have experienced enhance precipitation which corresponds to a declining diurnal temperature from 2019 onwards. The seasonality component reveals repeated patterns or variations occurring at steady intervals within each region's data, hence suggesting a distinct regional seasonal trend in the selected meteorological parameters over time. Basically, all counties have reported a relatively constant variability in both maximum and minimum temperatures during the study period except from 2017 onwards where significant variability in the two properties is recorded. In conclusion, the foregoing results that the selected climatic variables exhibit significant spatiotemporal and interannual variability.
    },
     year = {2024}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Assessing the Long-Term Changes in Selected Meteorological Parameters over the North-Rift, Kenya: A Regional Climatology Perspective
    
    AU  - John Wanjala Makokha
    AU  - Nelly Nambande Masayi
    AU  - Peter Barasa
    AU  - Peters Anselemo Ikoha
    AU  - Martha Muthoni Konje
    AU  - Jonathan Mutonyi
    AU  - Victor Samuel Okello
    AU  - Alice Nambiro Wechuli
    AU  - Collins Otieno Majengo
    AU  - Geoffrey Wanjala Khamala
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.hyd.20241203.12
    T2  - Hydrology
    JF  - Hydrology
    JO  - Hydrology
    SP  - 59
    EP  - 76
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-7617
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hyd.20241203.12
    AB  - Understanding long-term trends in climatic variables is essential for assessing climate change impacts on regional ecosystems and human livelihoods. A regional analysis of climatic variables over some domains is inevitable due to their geographical location and importance to the agricultural sector. Due to the aforementioned demands, the current study analyzes, trends in precipitation (from Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS)), and minimum and maximum temperatures (from TerraClimate) over the North-Rift region of Kenya for over thirty (30) years using satellite data. The seasonal decomposition analysis was performed for each variable to explore the trends and residual components. The findings by the current study indicate that most counties, have experienced enhance precipitation which corresponds to a declining diurnal temperature from 2019 onwards. The seasonality component reveals repeated patterns or variations occurring at steady intervals within each region's data, hence suggesting a distinct regional seasonal trend in the selected meteorological parameters over time. Basically, all counties have reported a relatively constant variability in both maximum and minimum temperatures during the study period except from 2017 onwards where significant variability in the two properties is recorded. In conclusion, the foregoing results that the selected climatic variables exhibit significant spatiotemporal and interannual variability.
    
    VL  - 12
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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