Recent Trends in Temperature and Precipitation in the Langat River Basin, Malaysia

Abstract

A study was undertaken to detect long-term trends in the annual and seasonal series of maximum and minimum temperatures. Measurements were taken at 11 meteorological stations located in the Langat River Basin in Malaysia. The rainfall and maximum and minimum temperature data were obtained from the Malaysia Meteorological Department (MMD) and the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) Malaysia. The procedures used included the Mann-Kendall test, the Mann-Kendall rank statistic test, and the Theil-Sen’s slope method. The analytical results indicated that when there were increasing and decreasing trends in the annual and seasonal precipitation and temperature, only the increasing trends were significant at the 95% confidence level. The Theil-Sen’s slope method showed that the rate of increment in the annual precipitation is greater than the seasonal precipitation. A bootstrap technique was applied to explore uncertainty about significant slope values for rainfall, as well as the maximum and minimum temperatures. The Mann-Kendall rank statistics test indicated that most of the trends in the annual and seasonal time series started in the year 2000. All of the annual and seasonal significant trends were obtained at the stations located in the north, east, and northeast portions of the Langat River Basin.