Trends in Climate Change Indicators, 1950–1991

Daily maximum and minimum temperature and precipitation data were analyzed over the period 1950-1991. Linear trends were computed for several climate change indices derived from the daily data. The trends were computed for observed in situ data from several countries in Asia, Australasia, and North America, and for global data output from an Australia Bureau of Meteorology climate model forced with observed SST's. A comparison of the observed and model trends indicates that the observed trends cannot be explained by changes in sea surface temperature alone. This paper will discuss the data, methodology, and results of this research effort.