Air temperature perturbation in La Malinche volcano area, Tlaxcala, Mexican Highland

Abstract

Evaluating air temperature perturbation is important to know the anthropic activity's effect on the environmental system. The study case was La Malinche volcano, concerning the urban, agricultural, and forest environments. The air temperature data (average, maximum, minimum, standard deviation and range), was analyzed by prin- cipal components analysis (PCA), and the Kruskal-Wallis (K-W) test. Data analyses were made on a diurnal (warming and cooling rates), daily and monthly basis. The K-W test showed that warming and cooling rates are significantly different between the agricultural, urban, and forest zones, despite the north and south sides of La Malinche volcano had significant differences. The PCA indicated more perturbation concerning the cooling rates of air temperature among the environments than the warming rates. The average, maximum, and minimum air temperature of the urban environment and the standard deviation and range of the agricultural environment were the highest. The minimum air temperature changes more than the maximum in the volcano's urban, agricultural, and forest south side. The K-W test showed that the environmental conditions differed sig- nificantly based on average and maximum. The daily air temperature on the north side of La Malinche Volcano was very different from the south side. The PCA with average, maximum, minimum, standard deviation, and range showed that the environments are modified. The average monthly air temperature in the agricultural and forest areas was lower than average. Minimum air temperature increase was more accentuated in urban areas than in agriculture and forest areas and increased more than maximum.

Keywords

• cooling and warming rates
• principal components
• environment
• air temperature
• disturbance degree