Sensitivity of the Diurnal Surface Temperature Range to Changes in Physical Parameters

Abstract

An analysis is made to determine the sensitivity of theoretical deductions of the diurnal temperature range to changes in 1) parameterization constants, 2) atmospheric variables, and 3) surface-state variables. It is found, at four locations of differing latitude, that the diurnal temperature range deduced from the model is relatively insensitive to changes in the parameterization constants, a necessary condition for the validity of the model. Of the two remaining groups of variables, it is found that changes in cloud cover and in the surface-state variables albedo and conductive capacity induce the largest temperature range changes on a percentage basis. The implications of these results for the effects of vegetation changes are discussed, with special reference to the Sinai-Negev-Nile region.