On the recent changes in surface temperature trends over India

TLDR

India’s warming has previously been attributed mainly to rising maximum temperatures, showing a diurnal asymmetry distinct from global trends. The study examines recent changes in India’s temperature trends using updated data up to 2003, focusing on the last three decades. The authors analyze updated temperature records through 2003, concentrating on the last three decades. The analysis reveals that India’s mean annual temperature warmed at 0.05 °C/10yr from 1901–2003, but accelerated to 0.22 °C/10yr during 1971–2003, largely driven by unprecedented warming in the last decade, with rising monsoon temperatures eroding earlier diurnal asymmetry and warming occurring equally at day and night.

Abstract

Marked differences from global trends in terms of diurnal asymmetry of temperature trends were reported earlier for India, indicating that the warming over India was solely contributed by maximum temperatures. We report substantial recent changes in the nature of trends, using updated data sets up to 2003, with special focus on the last three decades. While all‐India mean annual temperature has shown significant warming trend of 0.05°C/10yr during the period 1901–2003, the recent period 1971–2003 has seen a relatively accelerated warming of 0.22°C/10yr, which is largely due to unprecedented warming during the last decade. Further, in a major shift, the recent period is marked by rising temperatures during the monsoon season, resulting in a weakened seasonal asymmetry of temperature trends reported earlier. The recent accelerated warming over India is manifest equally in daytime and nighttime temperatures.