Spatial and Temporal Changes of Air Temperature in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to find some concrete evidence of changing

pattern of air temperature in Sri Lanka using secondary data available in different

government and non-government organizations.

The daily air temperature data (during the period 1961-2001) collected from the

Meteorological Department and daily surface temperature data (during the period

1881-1981) collected from the NASA web site are the main data sources.

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In addition to the GIS techniques such as surface interpolation, summarized by

zones and geo-statistics, Regression and Time-series Analysis were used to achieve

the set objectives.

The study identified that the average temperature has increased in some areas

such as Nuwara-Eliya, Anuradhapura, Colombo, Maha-Illuppallama, Hambanthota

and Angunukolapalassa in Sri Lanka whilst some observatories depicted a declining

trend of temperature and the area under high temperature is expanding.