The climate of British North Borneo

Scott, F.R.S. Robert H.

doi:10.1002/qj.9470157205

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…The main climatic data sources used in this paper are: die dairy records from 1985 to 1998 of the climatic station at Danum Valley Field Centre; archival records of rainfall held by the Malaysian Meteorological Service at Kota Kinabalu; published early accounts of the climate of British North Borneo (Scott 1889;Brooks 1921); published data in World Weather Records (Clayton 1927(Clayton , 1944Clayton & Clayton 1947) and on the World Climate Disc (ChadwyckHealey Ltd 1992); and climatic data on the World Wide Web for the long-term research stations at Barro Colorado Island (Panama), La Selva (Costa Rica) and El Verde (Puerto Rico). The paper also draws upon the long-term forest plot data at Danum (Newbery et al, this issue).…”

Section: Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ecoclimatology of Danum, Sabah, in the context of the world's rainforest regions, with particular reference to dry periods and their impact

Walsh

Newbery

2000

Changes and Disturbance in Tropical Rainforest in South-East Asia

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Climatic records for Danum for 1985Danum for -1998 in Sabah since 1879, and long monthly rainfall series from other rainforest locations are used to place the climate, and particularly the dry period climatology, of Danum into a world rainforest context. The magnitude frequency and seasonality of dry periods are shown to vary greatly within the world's rainforest zone. The climate of Danum, which is aseasonal but subject, as in 1997-1998, to occasional drought, is intermediate between less drought-prone north-western Borneo and the more drought-prone east coast. Changes through time in drought magnitude frequency in Sabah and rainforest locations elsewhere in South-East Asia and in the Neotropics are compared. The 1997-1998 ENSO-related drought event in Sabah is placed into a historical context. The effects of drought on tree growth and mortality in the tropics are assessed and a model relating intensity and frequency of drought disturbance to forest structure and composition is discussed.

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Section: Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ecoclimatology of Danum, Sabah, in the context of the world's rainforest regions, with particular reference to dry periods and their impact

Walsh

Newbery

2000

Changes and Disturbance in Tropical Rainforest in South-East Asia

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“…Most modern stations are located at the airports, but the early station sites of Sandakan and Tawau in Sabah were at the old hospitals as the meteorological network during the North Borneo Chartered Company era came under the aegis of the Chief Medical Officer. In the earliest published account of the meteorology of Sabah, Scott (1889) makes reference to the sites of some of the gauges (which he personally inspected) and comments upon the degree of reliability of sites and even individual observers. The quality of the records at the principal stations used is high.…”

Section: Data Sources and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Early monthly rainfall data, details on raingauge sites (including site changes) and useful supplementary information on the history and development of the meteorological network and service in the territories were obtained from issues of World Weather Records (Clayton, 1927(Clayton, , 1944Clayton and Clayton, 1947), colonial publications of meteorological statistics (e.g. The Department of Civil Aviation and Meteorological Services, 1961), letters and other documents held in the State Archive in Kota Kinabalu and early published accounts of the meteorology of North Borneo (Brooks, 1921;Scott, 1889).…”

Section: Data Sources and Choice Of Rainfall Stationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in large rainstorm magnitude–frequency over the last century in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo and their geomorphological implications

et al. 2013

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Increases in the frequency of large to extreme rainfall events are widely predicted with global warming, but evidence from the humid tropics is hampered by a paucity of long-term data. This paper assesses changes in daily rainfall magnitude-frequency and their geomorphological consequences in the equatorial environment of northern Borneo using (1) rare daily rainfall data series for 1906-2012 assembled from archival and current sources and (2) geomorphological process data from the Danum Valley area of eastern Sabah. Rainstorm changes are explored using (1) analysis of frequencies of daily falls above threshold values, (2) extreme-value analysis comparing differences in locally weighted scatterplot smoothing (LOESS) best-fit curves for successive 20-year periods and (3) a novel approach constructing graphs of long-term change in daily falls of 1-to 10-year return period derived from overlapping 20-year LOESS curves. Substantial increases, some statistically significant, since 1980 (intensifying since 1999) are detected at most stations in (1) the frequency of daily falls ≥50, 100 and 200 mm and (2) the magnitudes of daily falls with return periods of 0.2-5.0 years. The scale and temporal patterns of historical change vary with (1) coastal aspect and (2) different parts of the return period spectrum. The period 1921-1940 exhibited higher rainstorm magnitude-frequency than 1952-1979 and demonstrates the dangers of simple deductions derived from post-1960 data comparisons. Geomorphological responses indicated by long-term monitoring at Danum (eastern Sabah), where there has been a marked upswing in heavy rainfalls since 1999, include a threefold increase in slopewash rates, more frequent high flows and higher sediment loads. The very high soil pipe sediment yields, rates of pipe roof collapse and stream channel extension recorded from 2002 to 2012 in pipe systems at Danum may be a consequence of this upswing. Increased landsliding is also a likely consequence, exacerbated in logged, agricultural and urban terrain.

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“…The principal data sources for the study included: archival manuscript records of rainfall held by the Malaysian Meteorological Service at Kota Kinabalu and Kuching and the Indonesian Meteorological Service at Jakarta; data from early accounts of the climate of the former British North Borneo (Scott 1889, Brooks 1921; published data in World Weather Records (Clayton 1927(Clayton , 1944Clayton & Clayton 1947); and the World Climate Disc (Chadwick-Healey Ltd, 1992). The principal stations with long monthly rainfall series studied were Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu (formerly Jesselton), Labuan Island, Keningau, Tawau and Table Estate in Sabah; Kilanas in Brunei; Kuching, Bintulu and Miri in Sarawak; and Pontianak in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo); Menado in the neighbouring island of Sulawesi; and the somewhat seasonal location of Jakarta (Java), because of its exceptionally long and unbroken record extending back to 1864.…”

Section: Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drought frequency changes in Sabah and adjacent parts of northern Borneo since the late nineteenth century and possible implications for tropical rain forest dynamics

1996

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Archival rainfall data are used to investigate changes in drought frequency and severity in Sabah and other parts of northern Borneo since the late nineteenth century. Two measures of drought severity are used: drought duration (given by the number of consecutive months with less than 100 mm rain); and drought intensity (indexed by the cumulative rainfall deficit below 100 mm per month of a drought sequence). Within northern Borneo dry periods are very short (>3 months) and infrequent in Sarawak, south-western Sabah, Brunei and central and western Kalimantan; droughts occur seasonally, but are comparatively short in north-western Sabah; droughts are less frequent) but more severe in eastern Sabah and parts of eastern Kalimantan. In coastal Sabah and Brunei, there has been a statistically significant increase in the frequency and severity of droughts since the late 1960s. At Sandakan, two drought-prone epochs in 1877–1915 and 1968–92 (each experiencing five droughts of at least 4 months duration) are identified, separated by a 52-year period that was nearly drought-free. At Sandakan also, the ecologically damaging 1982–3 drought was neither as long or severe as those of 1903 and 1915. Links with El Niño-Southern Oscillation events are found to be not as strong as previous studies have suggested. Possible implications of the spatial and temporal patterns in drought magnitude-frequency for differences in tropical rain forest character within the region are discussed.

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The climate of British North Borneo

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

The ecoclimatology of Danum, Sabah, in the context of the world's rainforest regions, with particular reference to dry periods and their impact

The ecoclimatology of Danum, Sabah, in the context of the world's rainforest regions, with particular reference to dry periods and their impact

Changes in large rainstorm magnitude–frequency over the last century in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo and their geomorphological implications

Drought frequency changes in Sabah and adjacent parts of northern Borneo since the late nineteenth century and possible implications for tropical rain forest dynamics

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