SEASONAL TREND OF MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES: THE MIDDLE FIRAT SECTION

Abstract

The rapid expansion of industrialization and urbanization is mainly due to the concentration of anthropogenic activities in urban areas. Unplanned and rapid urbanization in cities located in developing countries has caused some environmental problems such as increasing energy consumption, changes in the local climate and a higher amount of air pollution. The climate system is effective in many areas, from the local scale to the global scale, and from the formation of the Earth to human activities. Climate changes has occurred in the time that has passed since the first formation of the Earth until today. In addition to the natural climate changes of the Earth, anthropogenic effects on the climate system have been observed with the industrialization in the 19th century. Various statistical approaches have been developed to determine the size and the direction of these respective changes. Global temperature changes adopted by many disciplines, institutions and organizations have increased their impact and caused environmental problems today. As in many regions of the world, Turkey is among the countries that have the potential to discern short or long term climate changes depending on time. In particular, the Southeastern Anatolia Region, which contains the study area, is among the sensitive areas in terms of climate changes due to its location. A large number of statistical methods have been developed to reveal the amount and direction of climate changes. In this study, the trend of changes in temperature parameters in the Middle Fırat Region between 1970 and 2014 was examined. In this respect, the trend in annual and seasonal minimum maximum temperatures was determined by using Mann-Kendall and Linear Trend Analysis techniques. According to the results of the analysis, it was observed that there was a statistically significant increase in the annual maximum and minimum temperatures of the Middle Fırat Section. Depending upon the increase in temperatures, there may be an increase in pressures on agricultural irrigation and water resources in the future. This case may lead to a more critical state of the region's economy, which is based on agriculture.