Kamau et al. (2026) Spatiotemporal Trends in Temperature and Rainfall Across the Aberdare Forest Ecosystem, Kenya (1994–2024)

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Climate
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-13
• Authors: Julius W. Kamau, Thuita Thenya, Jacinta Mwende Maweu
• DOI: 10.3390/cli14090193

Research Groups

• Department of Geography, Kenyatta University
• Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD)

Short Summary

This study analyzed spatiotemporal trends in temperature and rainfall in the Aberdare Forest ecosystem, Kenya, over 30 years (1994–2024), revealing significant warming with no clear corresponding directional change in rainfall.

Objective

• Investigate the long-term climate trend baselines for the Aberdare Forest ecosystem

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Regional scale, focusing on the Aberdare Forest ecosystem in Kenya
• Temporal Scale: 30 years (1994–2024)

Methodology and Data

• Models used: None mentioned; ERA5-Land and CHIRPS-v3 datasets were utilized for climate analysis
• Data sources: Gridded climate datasets from ERA5-Land (temperature, 9 km resolution) and CHIRPS-v3 (precipitation, 5 km resolution); validated against observed station data from the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD)

Main Results

• Statistically significant positive trend in temperature over the study period
• Statistically non-significant positive trend in rainfall over the study period
• Spatial analysis revealed statistically significant warming across the forest, bamboo, and moorland ecological zones

Contributions

• Provides robust empirical evidence of significant temporal and spatial warming with no clear corresponding directional change in rainfall for the Aberdare Forest ecosystem
• Establishes one of the first empirically validated long-term climate trend baselines for the Aberdare Forest ecosystem

Funding

• Not specified

Citation

@article{Kamau2026Spatiotemporal,
  author = {Kamau, Julius W. and Thenya, Thuita and Maweu, Jacinta Mwende},
  title = {Spatiotemporal Trends in Temperature and Rainfall Across the Aberdare Forest Ecosystem, Kenya (1994–2024)},
  journal = {Climate},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3390/cli14090193},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/cli14090193}
}