Climate Change During The Last Century In Setif Province, Algeria

Résumé: According to several predictive climate models, Algeria will be exposed to climate change threats over the next decades. The expected annual rainfall will decrease while annual temperatures will have upward trends, which could affect environment and food security. Even though, this finding is actually supported in the literature, it should be demonstrated and checked locally. This paper aims at describing the trend of climate change in Setif region within and between two periods, 1920-1962 and 1981-2015. Statistical treatment was based on the homogeneity and breaks detection tests for monthly, seasonal and annual time series of rainfall, mean temperature (Tmean), maximal temperature (Tmax) and minimal temperature (Tmin). The comparison between the control period 1920-1962 and the recent period 1981-2015 reveal a drop of 55 mm in the annual rainfall. Meanwhile, the annual averages of temperatures show upward trends, where the annual Tmean increases by 0.48°C, also the annual Tmax raises by 0.49°C and the annual Tmin records the highest raise of 1.38°C. Furthermore, it should be noted that, the increase of temperature is more exacerbated within 1981-2015 period compared to 1920-1962 period, especially for the annual Tmin, which suggests a warming trend and a shifting to arid bioclimatic stages.

Publié dans la revue: Agriculture