The increase of surface air temperature is a concerning climate change threat. This is a serious issue as it can influence a lot of our atmospheric chemical reactions, weather irregularities, and biological dynamics. It has been shown that since 1900, our global temperature has increased by 1 °C (NASA, 2022).
The subject data examined the air temperature within the jurisdiction of Malaysian land (Peninsular and Borneo) between 1991-2020. However, the observed data focused mainly on two decades, 1991-2000 and 2011-2020. The air temperature data was obtained from the NASA database with the Giovanni platform. The warmest place in Malaysia was in Klang, Selangor (1991-2000= 27.18 °C; 2011-2020= 27.66 °C). While the coldest place was at the peak of Mount Kinabalu, Sabah (13.22 °C; 13.47 °C).
Throughout three decades, the air temperature consistently and significantly increased by on average 0.28 °C. Pantai Timur, Bandar Penawar, Johor recorded the highest change within 3 decades (0.60 °C), while the heart of Sarawak (Marudi) recorded the least changes of temperature (0.09 °C). This result showed the threats of Climate Change is not equal across the country. More studies are required to understand the effect of climate change in the nation.
NASA. 2022. World of Change: Global Temperatures. Earth Observatory. [Accessed by: 20 September 2022]
Data was obtained by specifying the spatial (Malaysia) and temporal (1991-2000, 2011-2020) subset from Giovanni (GES DISC) database. The monthly data was downloaded as average temperature at 0.1° resolution with temperature values given to each spatial point. 2 sets of 10-years averaged air temperature for 1991-2000 and 2011-2020 were constructed. The temperature change (delta) for each point was calculated by subtracting the recent (2011-2020) and older data points (1991-2000).
Wee Hin Boo (2022) Surface air temperature changes between two decades: 1990s vs 2010s. Institute of Climate Change, UKM. MyIKLIM database. Available online: https://myiklimysd.ukm.my/atgh_001_ikl/ [accessed on: enter date]
