Interdecadal fluctuation of dry and wet climate boundaries in China in the past 50 years

Based on the mean yearly precipitation and the total yearly evaporation data of 295 meteorological stations in China in 1951-1999, the aridity index is calculated in this paper. According to the aridity index, the climatic regions in China are classified into three types, namely, arid region, semi-arid region and humid region. Dry and wet climate boundaries in China fluctuate markedly and differentiate greatly in each region in the past 50 years. The fluctuation amplitudes are 20-400 km in Northeast China, 40-400 km in North China, 30-350 km in the eastern part of Northwest China and 40-370 km in Southwest China. Before the 1980s (including 1980), the climate tended to be dry in Northeast China and North China, to be wet in the eastern part of Northwest China and very wet in Southwest China. Since the 1990s there have been dry signs in Southwest China, the eastern part of Northwest China and North China. The climate becomes wetter in Northeast China. Semi-arid region is the transitional zone between humid and arid regions, the monsoon edge belt in China, and the susceptible region of environmental evolution. At the end of the 1960s dry and wet climate in China witnessed abrupt changes, changing wetness into dryness. Dry and wet climate boundaries show the fluctuation characteristics of the whole shifts and the opposite fluctuations of eastward, westward, southward and northward directions. The fluctuations of climatic boundaries and the dry and wet variations of climate have distinctive interdecadal features.     

Interdecadal fluctuation of dry and wet climate boundaries in China in the past 50 years

Based on the mean yearly precipitation and the total yearly evaporation data of 295 meteorological stations in China in 1951–1999, the aridity index is calculated in this paper. According to the aridity index, the climatic regions in China are classified into three types, namely, arid region, semi-arid region and humid region. Dry and wet climate boundaries in China fluctuate markedly and differentiate greatly in each region in the past 50 years. The fluctuation amplitudes are 20–400 km in Northeast China, 40–400 km in North China, 30–350 km in the eastern part of Northwest China and 40–370 km in Southwest China. Before the 1980s (including 1980), the climate tended to be dry in Northeast China and North China, to be wet in the eastern part of Northwest China and very wet in Southwest China. Since the 1990s there have been dry signs in Southwest China, the eastern part of Northwest China and North China. The climate becomes wetter in Northeast China. Semi-arid region is the transitional zone between humid and arid regions, the monsoon edge belt in China, and the susceptible region of environmental evolution. At the end of the 1960s dry and wet climate in China witnessed abrupt changes, changing wetness into dryness. Dry and wet climate boundaries show the fluctuation characteristics of the whole shifts and the opposite fluctuations of eastward, westward, southward and northward directions. The fluctuations of climatic boundaries and the dry and wet variations of climate have distinctive interdecadal features.     

Holocene environmental changes in the Gebel Umm Hammad, Eastern Desert, Egypt

Gebel Umm Hammad in the Red Sea Mountains east of Quseir, Egypt, today enjoys small but irregular amounts of winter rain, enabling the widening of joint controlled openings in the Thebes Limestone. Cavities are especially affected by flaking, while rock fragmentation is more active on the outside. The sedimentological and botanical study of fan deposits at the outlet of a karstic shaft in the Tree Shelter showed the local Holocene environmental evolution. Three periods of different degree of aridity can be considered: (i) Before 8120±45 BP (UtC-5389), bedload aggradation points to rare but occasionally heavy rains, lasting for several hours, attaining intensities of more than 76 mm/h and covering some 20 km². Wadi flash floods occasionally attained bankfull stage. (ii) Since 8120±45 BP (UtC-5389), such heavy rains have not occurred in the Egyptian Red Sea Mountains. Instead, a more moderate but maybe wetter precipitation regime was established. The karstic shafts were active, and there was water and life in the desert. Two humid pulses can be distinguished within this period. The first occurs at ±8000 BP, the second between 6630±45 (GrN-22560) and 6770±60 BP (GrN-22562). (iii) After the last wet culmination, there was a gradual shift to drier conditions. Shortly after ±5000 BP, modern climatic conditions are believed to have been attained. Today, the occasional rain storms are less heavy than before ±8000 BP. Bankfull stage river floods do not occur. Instead, secondary channels are eroded in the wadi beds. The general arid character during the whole period and the inherent local and temporal variations in precipitation patterns might explain apparent aberrations between the palaeoenvironmental evolution of the Tree Shelter site and other remote study areas in Egypt and Sudan.     

扎龙湿地的形成背景及其生态环境意义

扎龙湿地位于黑龙江省西部, 为乌裕尔河下游尾闾湖形成的苇草湖沼。作者通过野外调 查、表土样品粒度对比和遥感影像分析, 探讨了湿地形成演化的地质环境背景, 分析了扎龙湿地 与嫩江、沙地的成因联系。研究认为齐齐哈尔- 大庆沙地由北西走向的纵向沙垄和低洼盐碱带组 成, 与科尔沁沙地一起构成了一个NE 向展布的沙带, 可能主要形成于末次冰期时期。其后嫩江 进入沙地, 对沙地进行改造, 在扎龙地区留下众多牛轭湖。后期由于构造抬升嫩江河道西迁, 乌裕 尔河成为内流河, 其尾闾湖最后演化成为现在的扎龙湿地。因此扎龙地区的环境演化过程为: 风 成沙地形成→嫩江改造、破坏沙地→嫩江西迁、乌裕尔河分流→扎龙尾闾湖形成→扎龙尾闾湖退 化、湿地形成。因此扎龙湿地与连环湖是在风成沙丘上形成的沼泽地, 是整个嫩江流域生态环境 最脆弱的一个关键区。一旦湿地消失, 将导致这个地区的盐碱化和沙漠化, 对附近的齐齐哈尔和 大庆两市的生态环境造成严重影响。     

The desertification and its rehabilitation inSongnen Sandy Land

IntroductionSongnenSandyLand,locatedinnorthWestofNortheastChinaplain,belongstosub-htaldmeedow-chemozemzoneanditSthedamntallandformisthefluvialplaincoveredbydunes.ThelinefromtheSecondSonghuamvernmningtbrOughtothelowerreachesoftheHuolinmver(i.e.Taolaizhao-Qian'an-Taonan)isthenasthesouthboundaryofthesandylandwhichisnearthenoItheaStofHorqinSandyLandWhilethelinealongNehe1indha-AndaThaomp-TaolaitheoistakenastheeaStboundary.Withalengthof38okinfromnorthtosouthtalwidthof26okInfromwesttoeasLth…     

晚更新世以来的季风变化对晋陕蒙接壤区现代侵蚀的影响

黄土高原晚更新世末次冰期时期,冬季风强盛,马兰黄土堆积;全新世以来的间冰期时期,夏季风强盛,降水较丰,侵蚀强烈。晚更新世以来的中国东部海岸线40°N 一带变化最大,同纬度晋陕蒙接壤区是黄土高原季风气候变化最剧烈的地区,致使该区成为黄土高原沙黄土区中现代降水最多的地区。沙黄土和较多降水的组合,使晋陕蒙接壤区成为黄土高原现代侵蚀最剧烈的地区。     

Plant functional types and climate along a precipitation gradient in temperate grasslands, north-east China and south-east Mongolia

Using data from three field surveys along a precipitation gradient of temperate grasslands in north-east China (the Northeast China Transect, NECT) and south-east Mongolia, the spatial distribution of six plant functional types (PFTs): C₃ species, C₄ species, grasses, shrubs, forbs and succulents and their relationships with climate were analysed. The spatial distribution of different PFTs varies in different regions and in different grassland types of the study area. The species richness in each PFT also has different relationships with climate (significantly or not). Generally, the number of C₃ species, C₄ species, grasses and forbs have positive relationships with precipitation and aridity. Shrubs have negative relationship with precipitation and aridity. Succulents were found to have no relationship with precipitation and aridity. Shrubs, grasses and forbs have stronger relationships with precipitation than C₃ and C₄ species. The relationships between C₃ species, forbs and aridity are more significant than with precipitation. On a regional basis, the combined effect of precipitation and temperature, the aridity, is more significantly correlated with the distribution of C₃ species and forbs, which are more dominant in the study area, than with C₄ species, grasses and succulents.     

松嫩沙地沙漠化的气候因素与沙地发育特征

松嫩沙地位于欧亚大陆中纬度巨型沙带的东部边缘，也是我国沙漠化土地的东缘。其独特的气候条件使沙地的形成与发展、风沙地貌形态及风沙活动规律都具有明显的区域特色。通过对气候因素及其控制下沙地发育的分析，可以进一步认识该沙地形成演化及现代沙漠化的若干区域性特征     

气候和地貌对晚第四纪冰川发育差异性的影响

中国第四纪冰川作用极大地推动了高亚洲乃至全球冰川形成机制的探讨。青藏高原以及喜马拉雅山地冰川作用的时限和规模研究得到了广泛关注,为西风带与西南季风带对晚第四纪冰川作用差异性问题的解决提供了有利条件。然而,对于中亚西风环流与东亚季风环流影响下的冰川演化差异性关系不甚明确,两大气候系统控制下的山地第四纪冰川的冰进时序、冰期历史和冰川规模显示出不同特点,其差异性主要体现在:西部山地的冰期启动时间早,冰川规模随时间而逐渐缩小,冰川历史较为完整,绝对年代证据显示冰川作用的启动时间是450 ka 左右的中梁赣冰期(MIS12);东部山地的冰期历史较短,仅保留末次冰期(~75 ka)的冰川遗迹,冰川作用的阶段性明显;冰川演化时间与空间的差异性表明,影响冰川发育的因素不仅仅是区域气候,构造因素也起着相当重要的作用。     

Stable isotopes and sediments from Pickerel Lake, South Dakota, USA: a 12ky record of environmental changes

Sedimentological parameters and stable O- and C-isotopic composition of marl and ostracode calcite selected from a 17.7-m-long core from the 8-m-deep center of Pickerel Lake, northeastern South Dakota, provide one of the longest (ca. 12ky) paleoenvironmental records from the northern Great Plains. The late Glacial to early Holocene climate in the northern Great Plains was characterized by changes from cold and wet to cold and dry, and back to cold and wet conditions. These climatic changes were controlled by fluctuations in the positions of the Laurentide ice sheet and the extent of glacial Lake Agassiz. We speculate that the cold and dry phase may correspond to the Younger Dryas event. A salinity maximum was reached between 10.3 and 9.5 ka, after which Pickerel Lake shifted from a system controlled by atmospheric changes to a system controlled by groundwater seepage that might have been initiated by the final withdrawal of Glacial Lake Agassiz. A prairie lake was established at approximately 8.7 ka, and lasted until about 2.2 ka. During this mid-Holocene prairie period, drier conditions than today prevailed, interrupted by periods of increased moisture at about 8, 4, and 2.2 ka. Prairie conditions were more likely dry and cool rather than dry and warm. The last 2.2 ka are characterized by higher climatic variability with 400-yr aridity cycles including the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age.Although the signal of changing atmospheric circulation is overprinted by fluctuations in the positions of the ice sheet and glacial Lake Agassiz during the late Glacial-Holocene transition, a combination of strong zonal circulation and strong monsoons induced by the presence of the ice sheet and high insolation may have provided mechanisms for increased precipitation. Zonal flow introducing dry Pacific air became more important during the prairie period but seems to have been interrupted by short periods of stronger meridional circulation with intrusions of moist air from the Gulf of Mexico. More frequent switching between periods of zonal and meridional circulation seem to be responsible for increased climatic variability during the last 2.2 ka.