Reconstruction of a long-term record of air temperature from 1920–2020 in rural areas of Japan

Abstract

Surface air temperature data in rural areas is useful for temperature rise estimation due to global warming. Here we reconstructed the trend of annual mean temperature for 1916–2020 at 43 rural stations in Japan using the data of AMeDAS and local stations digitized from published data books. The results showed that the temperature rise estimated as +0.96℃/century was clearly lower than that of the Japan Meteorological Agency (+1.4℃/century), indicating that urban warming is not negligible. Interdecadal natural variation possibly caused by solar activity and/or internal variation was also suggested in the temperature trend in rural areas.