Spatio-temporal analysis of climate change parameters using satellite data for the southeast Asian region

Abstract

The spatial and temporal variations of several environmental parameters over the Southeast Asia region recorded by remote sensing satellites for the past one to two decades are examined in relation to climate change. At the South China Sea, an increasing trend for sea surface temperature at a rate of 0.1 to 0.5 degree per decade was observed while the sea level anomaly increases at 2 to 6 cm per decade. The vegetation index of Kalimantan shows strong seasonal variations and a significantly decreasing trend. Several areas with increasing aerosol optical thickness were observed where land clearing and biomass burning activities were common. Precipitation rate and sea level anomaly show dominant association with annual seasonal monsoons and moderate association with El-Nino influences. The precipitation rate does not seem to have significant correlation with the global warming index.