Details:

Personal Author:
Rosenthal, S.L.
Corporate Authors:
Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
NOAA Program & Office:
OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; AOML (Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory)
OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; AOML (Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory) Less -
Description:
The oberved mean annual surface air temperature at Miami International Airport (MIA) exceeded the 30-year (1961-1990) mean by 1.2 to 2.4 standard deviations between 1989 and 1992. This was the result of a warming trend that started in the late 1960s and accelerated sharply in the mid 1980s. Unfortunately, the MIA surface temperature data cannot be taken at face value. At times during these years, the site for measuring daily surface maximum and minimum temperature was poorly positioned. There was a significant relocation of the equipment in the late 1970s. There have been three important changes of instrumentation from the original liquid in glass extreme thermometers to a series of electronic hygrothermometers, culminating in the installation of the less than ideal HO-83 in 1985. To determine the impact of these activities, the MIA temperature data were compared with data obtained at Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) and Page Field at Fort Myers (FMY). The latter are the NWS first-order stations closest to MIA. Comparisons were also made with data from nearby cooperative (COOP) stations and with data from the FAA station at Fort Lauderdale International Airport (FLL). Comparisons were also made with precipitation data from MIA, PBI and FMY. At least part of the accelerated warming in the 1980s must be attributed to a general south Florida warming during these years. However, MIA and PBI warmed faster than their neighboring COOP stations during the late 1980s, indicating that some artificial warming resulted from the HO-83 installations. The MIA mean annual daily minimum temperatures show systematic fluctuations but not a statistically-significant, long-term trend. These temperatures show a sharp, temporally-local rise starting in the mid 1980s similar to the rise found in the maximum temperatures which, therefore, provides support for the contention that this warming event is, at least partially, a natural event since previous investigators found no bias in the HO-83 minimum temperature data. This conclusion is supported by the results of our precipitation analyses. The MIA and FLL maximum temperatures both showed a warming trend that started in the late 1980s, which lends support to the conclusion that this trend is natural. The analyses support the contention that the MIA mean annual daily minimum temperature warmed somewhat through the effects of nearby jumbo jet operations and parking lot construction during the early 1970s. However, comparisons with other stations indicate that a general natural warming process impacted south Florida during this period and that the warming of MIA's mean annual daily minimum temperature was not entirely a result of human activities. Regardless of the mechanisms that were responsible, the trend ended abruptly in the early 1970s and these temperatures thereafter fell to a new low point in the mid 1980s.
Keywords:
[+]
Atmospheric temperature
Series:
NOAA Technical Memorandum ERL AOML ; 77
Document Type:
Technical Memorandum
Place as Subject:
Florida, South
License:
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Rights Information:
CC0 Public Domain
Compliance:
Library
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:4510df300b178d53bedd61c7e94b7ec9ce04684cd4e49ab9324c84a003d37313
Download URL:
https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/29441/noaa_29441_DS1.pdf
File Type:

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