The Human Impact on Temperature Rise in Taiwan

抄録

Over the past 90 years, a mean annual temperature increase of about 0.8°C has been observed in a few big cities in Taiwan. Temperature increases would lead to thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of the Antarctic and Arctic ice sheets. Sea levels would rise, inundating low-lying land areas that include many rice fields, fish and shrimp ponds.
The main objective of this study is to examine the human factors bringing about such temperature changes in Taiwan. The factors considered are the deterioration of air quality, vehicle count, road density, and forest area. To determine what factor has the strongest influence on temperature, correlation analyses were performed between these human factors and the temperature records obtained from 16 Central Weather Bureau observation stations.
The comparisons indicate better relation when correlating pollutant concentrations such as CO, SO₂, and NO_x and temperature. These findings suggest that air quality exerted greater influence on temperature rise did other human factors.