Identification of temperature change related to frost phenomenon over Jayapura, Indonesia

Abstract

The frost phenomenon that occurred over Jayapura, Indonesia, in July 2022 was the worst frost in the last two decades (1998 – 2022). The frost impact destroyed agricultural fields, crippling most of the crops, and caused famishing to hundreds of people. Because Jayapura has the largest agriculture field in Papua, an assessment of possible mechanisms that caused this extreme event is needed for disaster mitigation. On the other hand, numerous previous studies investigated the relationship between frost and climate change. However, it is still poorly understood, particularly in the Papua study case. This study explores the linkage between the frost phenomenon and climate change in Jayapura, Papua. Hence, we conducted an analysis using station observation and reanalysis datasets. In addition, we also assess spatial analysis to determine the distribution of weather pattern anomalies derived from The European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) – ERA5 datasets during extreme episodes. We found that maximum and average temperatures have increased, while the minimum temperature has decreased over the last decade (2002-2022). It is also noted that the frost event may be related to temperature change in Jayapura, Papua.