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2021, Vol.1 (1) 63-69 

ANNUAL AMPLITUDE REGIME OF GROUND 

SURFACE TEMPERATURE IN GEORGIA 

Kukuri Tavartkiladze
1*, Antaz Kikava

2
 

 
Abstract 

The present paper deals with the regime of annual amplitude of temperature applying the annual 

empirical data of the ground surface temperature of the territory of Georgia. In particular, we have 

determined the amplitude distribution according to the values and obtained within-year change 

regularity. We have also determined the change of amplitude values according to years and 

determined the connection of ground surface amplitude to the height of location from the sea level 

and constructed the annual distribution schematic map of the ground surface temperature for the 

territory of Georgia. 

Keywords: temperature amplitude, within-year change, change according to years, connection 

to height, territorial distribution 

Introduction 

The main factors in the formation of the climate are the solar radiation energy and the 

shape of the earth. But, during the formation of regional climate, other processes also 

take place. For example, the proximity of the region to the ocean or sea has a great 

influence upon the formation of the regional climate of the continent. The oceans and the 

seas have a relatively long retention capacity of the radiation energy, or the inertia, and 

thus affect the climate. The closer the region is to the ocean or the sea coast, the stronger 

is the influence. This process determines the so-called "Continentality" of the climate and 

the minimum temperature of winter and maximum temperatures of summer of the ground 

temperature during a year are most clearly dependent on it, specifically, the ground 

surface temperature amplitude which is determined by the difference between the 

maximum and the minimum temperatures (Elsnen and Tsonis, 1996). 

Having used the data of 120 years of the 30 observation points of the Russian 

Federation, the work by Sedov (2015) deals with the regime structure of the average 

annual amplitude of the ground surface temperature and its modification in conditions of 

modern global warming. The author notes that one of the main parameters of the climate 

system is the average annual amplitude, which basically determines the climate 

"continentality". The paper shows that the minimum volume of amplitude mode of the 

ground surface temperature in the European territory of the Russian Federation is 

observed in Socha and its surroundings and it is equal to 16.7 °C and the maximum is in 

Volgograd and equals to 33.2°C. The eastern part the amplitude is 30 inches high and 

reaches the maximum in Verkhoyansk where it is equal to 64.7°C. Today, on the entire 

territory of the Russian Federation, the annual amplitude of the surface temperature is 

growing and the authors think that the growth process will last until 2030. 
 

 
1
 Vakhushti Bagrationi Institute of Geography, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, 6, 

Tamarashvili, 0177, Tbilisi, Georgia, e-mail: kuktav@mail.ru 
2
 Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University, 35, Ninoshvili str. 6010, Batumi, Georgia 

mailto:kuktav@mail.ru


Georgian Geographical journal 
 

 

The change of annual amplitude of ground surface temperature is described on the 

territory of Belarus (Davidenko, 2014). The author concludes that the amplitude has been 

decreased to about 1°C and unevenly in the territory of Belarus in the background of 

global warming, namely, less than 1°C in the West, and 1.5°C in the east. The reason for 

this is the rise of urbanization in the East. 

It is noteworthy that the work Polevoi (2014) discusses the regime structure of 

transiting to 0, 5, 10 and 15°c surface temperatures on the territory of Ukraine, it is stated 

here that the spring transition date is in the early period and in autumn it occurs on the 

contrary - the date of transition is later. i.e. the ground surface temperature amplitude 

gradually increases. 
 

 
600 

 
500 

 
400 

 
300 

 
200 

 
100 

 

600 

 
500 

 
400 

 
300 

 
200 

 
100 

 

0 

0 15 20 

 

25 30 

 
 

15 20 

 

25 30 35 
 

Fig. 1. Distribution of ground surface temperature amplitude of Georgia in the highlands of the 

southern slopes of the Caucasus (1), on the plains of eastern Georgia (2) on the Meskheti- 

Javakheti uplands (3) and in the foothills of western Georgia (4). 

In the work Andreizhuk and Mongush (2009), the continentality of the climate is 

analytically connected to the ground surface temperature amplitude and the geographical 

longitude of the location. Having been introduced the so-called "Continentality Index", 

it is gradually increased for the Tuvi mountainous system, along with the global growth 

of temperature. The surface temperature amplitude for the territory of Georgia is less 

studied. The main determinant of the annual amplitude change of the ground surface for 

the earth is the distance from the equator; it is minimal on the equator and the maximum 

value is reached at the poles. Using the data on the ground surface temperature of 90 

years (1906-1995) of the 89 points of observation in the territory of Georgia 

1 

2 

4 

3 



Tavartkiladze and Kikava 
 

 

(Tavartkiladze et al. 1994, 2012), the aim of this work is to study the regime structure of 

the temperature amplitude on the territory of Georgia and the influence of the climate 

change on it. 

Methods 

Annual amplitude of ground surface temperature for all points of observation was 

determined by two different ways in order to reduce the marginal consequences of the 

results. In particular, during the study of amendments according to the within-year 

regimes and years the amplitude for each point of observation is represented as a 

difference between the maximum and minimum values of the average monthly 

temperatures of each year. And while studying the connection of the location with the 

height and determining the territorial distribution, the amplitude represents the average 

monthly maximum and minimum temperatures between the values of the 90-year period 

of the observation point. 

Results 

 
12 

 

 
10 

 

 
8 

 

 
6 

 

 
4 

12 

 

10 

 

 
8 

 

 
6 

 

 
4 

I    II    III   IV  V    VI  VII VIII IX   X   XI  XII 

 

 
I    II   III   IV  V    VI  VIIVIII IX   X   XI  XII 

Fig.2. Within-year distribution of the ground surface temperature amplitude in Georgia 

(Definition of the values of numbers is given on Fig. 1). 

At the same time, since the relatively small area of Georgia is characterized by a 

variety of climatic regimes, the regime structure has been studied by four different 

regions. These regions are: mountainous southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains; 

plain of the East Georgia; Meskheti-Javakheti highland and foothills of western Georgia. 

1 
2 

3 4 



Georgian Geographical journal 
 

 

Certain picture on the applied empirical data is given by their distinction according to the 

values of amplitude for specific regions. It is represented on the fig 1. 

In the vertical and horizontal sides of the figure, the number of cases and the values 

of amplitudes are consequently measured in °C. The largest amplitude is observed on the 

Meskheti-Javakheti upland and the plain of eastern Georgia. Therefore, their average 

perennial amplitudes are 23.55 °C and 23.42 °C. The standard drawbacks of these values 

are 2.43 °C and 2.38 °C, and the number of cases - 1080 and 1890. 

In the highlands of the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains, the value of the 

ground surface temperature is 22.19 °C and the corresponding standard drawback and the 

number of cases is 2.38 °C and 1980. The foothills of western Georgia are characterized 

by significantly small amplitude. Here it is equal to 18.92 °C, and the standard drawback 

is 2.26 °C and 3060. 

The horizontal and vertical axes of the drawing are adjusted for months and amplitude 

values. Continuous curves determine the values of the average amplitude of the month, 

and the intermittent curves show the boundaries of standard drawbacks. As seen from the 

drawing, the ground surface temperature amplitude experiences significant seasonal 

changes. During moving from the warm season to the cold season, the amplitude 

gradually increases. From the warm season to the cold season, the amplitude gradually 

increases, which is almost similar to the entire area and varies within about 6°C. 

Changing the average monthly value of ground surface amplitude on the territory of 

Georgia (within-year distribution), allocated for four regions is not significantly different 

from each other (Fig. 2). 

Regardless of the sharply fragmented surface, the regional differences seem to have 

less impact on the change of ground surface temperatures. Therefore, we have 

represented the amplitude changes according to the years and the impact of the change in 

the atmosphere of the whole territory of Georgia without regional divisions. In order to 

be compatible with all the data of the observations, we have carried out all the 

standardization of the observation data, and we took the values of the average perennial 

amplitude of each observation point. Thus, the change of average annual amplitude of 

ground surface temperature in 1905-1995 for the entire territory of Georgia is presented 

on Fig. 3. 
1.3 

 
1.2 

 

1.1 

 
1.0 

 

0.9 

 
0.8 

 
0.7 

1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 

Fig. 3. Average annual amplitude changes of normalized ground surface temperature in 

Georgia and its linear approximation (intermittent line). 



Tavartkiladze and Kikava 
 

 

As mentioned above, the volume of the ground surface temperature amplitude is 

influenced by the distance from the equator, as well as from the shoreline of the oceans 

and seas. For such a distinctly fragmented area, like Georgia it is particularly interesting 

whether it is influenced by the change of the altitude of the location from sea level or not. 

In order to determine this, on the Fig.4 is given the values of annual anomalies in the 

ground surface temperature according to the heights of the location above the sea level 

(the height above the sea level in km and the amplitude values have been measured on 

the axes of coordinates). 
 

30 
 
 
 

25 
 
 
 

20 
 
 
 

15 
0 1 2 3 4 

Fig 4. Change of average annual amplitude of ground surface temperature according to height. 

As shown from the drawing, the average value of the amplitude for the whole territory 

is almost unchanged, but according to individual territories the boundary of change is 

within ±20%. It is noteworthy that the changes in the ground surface temperature in 

Georgia during this period were characterized by both, warming and cooling. The 

temperature amplitude is like that, despite the invariability for the entire area, there is an 

increase in temperature amplitude and reduction in certain areas. Thus, linear 

approximation of the amendment presented in the drawing, for the whole territory of 

Georgia, gives us the following image of the annual amplitude (Ta) change of the 

normalized ground surface temperature: 

𝑇𝑎 = 0.995 + 0.0001 n 1

Where n is the years recounted since 1900. i.e. the change for one hundred years (0.01 
°C/100 years) is practically zero. The amplitude changes for the four regions allocated 

by us for 100 years are characterized by the following values: North - positive 0.036°C, 

East - negative 0.014°C, South - zero and West - positive 0.012°C. All the values are 

within boundaries of the calculation drawbacks and we can conclude that there is no 

change in the temperature amplitude for any region. Today it is very difficult to determine 

what causes the opposite directions of change in such a small area. But such a 

misunderstanding also occurs during the modern global warming, when some cooling 

centers emerge in some of the world's enclosed areas on the background of warming. 

It should be noted that from the 89 observation points, the amplitude is reduced on the 

37th. The maximum reduction in annual amplitude of ground surface temperature takes 

place in Tbilisi (-0.0050°C/ 100 years) and in nearby Karsani (0.0057°C/100 years). 

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Georgian Geographical journal 
 

 

While the largest amplitude is observed in western Georgia, on the Mtsvane Kontskhi 
territory and it is equal to 0.0081°C/100 years. 

 

22 20 

 

20 

18 

 
20 

20 

22 
22 

20 

 

22 

18 24 

20 22 22 

24 

Fig. 5. Distribution of average annual amplitude of ground surface temperature in the territory 

of Georgia. 

As seen from the drawing, the change of annual amplitude of temperature does not 

show a sharp expression according to height (zo). Its estimated approximation can be 

presented as follows: 

𝑇𝑎 = {17.5 + 12.80 zo when zo < 0.5 km 
24.4 – 1.24 zo when zo ≥ 0.5 km 

2





Conclusion 

According to the height the approximate change of the amplitude can be given as 

following: the amplitude of about 500 meters above the sea level increases sharply, and 

during the further growth of height it is gradually reduced. 

As a result of the survey, a schematic map of the yearly amplitude distribution of the 

ground surface temperature is constructed for the territory of Georgia and it is given in 

Fig. 5. 

At great heights above the sea level, the fact of annual amplitude reduction of the 

ground surface temperature, which is shown by the 4th drawing, has been partially shown 

on the map. But it seems that the main reason for amplitude change is the factor of 

separation from the sea for Georgian territory. 

References 

Andreizhuk M.F., Mongush M.M. (2009) Osobennosti raspredelenia indekca kontinentalnosti v 

Tuviiskoi gornoi oblasti. [Distribution features of the continental index in the Tuvian mountainous 

region]. Bulletin of Tuva State University,2 (50-53). 

Elsnen, J.Tsonis A. (1996) Singular Spectrum Analysis. A New Tool in Time Series Analysis. New 

York, Plenum Press. (163 p.) 

Davidenko, O.V. (2014) Dinamika aridnikh godovikh temperatur vozdukha i ikh vnutrigodovikh 

variacii na territorii Belorusii. [Dynamics of arid annual air temperatures and their intra-annual 

variations in the territory of Belarus]. BSU Bulletin, ser. 2, (89-95) (in Russian) 



Tavartkiladze and Kikava 
 

 

Kislov, A.V. (2010) Klimat v proshlom, nastoiashchem i budushchem. [Climate in the past, 

present and future]. M., Science, (352) (in Russian) 

Polevoi, A.N., Bojlo L.E., Dronova E.A., Borovskaia G.A. (2014) Izmenenie pokazatelei 

temperaturnogo rezhima vozducha na period do 2030 g. [Changes in air temperature indicators 

for the period up to 2030]. Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Journal, No 17, (95-104) (in Russian) 

Sedov, V. E. (2015) Otsenka doli i godovoi amplitudi additivnikh sezonnikh component 

vremennikh riadov prizemnoi temperaturi vozdukha v 30-ti punktov nabliudenii za 120-letnii 

period. [Estimation of the annual amplitude of the additive seasonal components of the surface air 

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(38), partt 4, 2015 (133-137) (in Russian). 

Tavartkiladze, K., Elizbarashvili E., Mumladze D., Vachnadze E. (1999) Sakartvelos mitsispira 

temperaturis tsvlilebis empiriuli modeli [The empirical model of change of the ground surface 

temperature field of Georgia]. Tbilisi: Metsniereba, (128 p.), in Georgian. 

Tavartkiladze K., Begalishvili N., Tsintsadze T., Kikava A. (2012) Influence of Global Warming 

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