Assessing Temperature Variations in Punjab, Pakistan Using Mann Kendall Trend Analysis and Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) for Spatial Interpolation

Abstract

This study is an effort to identify the temperature inconsistency in Punjab, Pakistan, by using advanced statistical techniques on temperature records of last 20 years, from 1998 to 2017. In this research temporal and spatial temperature record of mean monthly extreme and least surface air temperature records of 14 meteorological stations in the Punjab Pakistan were inspected for progressive trends and spatial variation distributions. Linear trends are calculated with Sen’s slope approximation procedure and Mann Kendall test, while the spatial distributions and regional variations across the Punjab were envisioned using spatial tendency maps and interpolation with Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW). Annual temperature rise was found to be most noticeable in the southern and south eastern parts of the Punjab.