Temperature and precipitation variations at two meteorological stations on eastern slope of Gongga Mountain, SW China in the past two decades

Gongga Mountain, locates on the eastern edge of Tibetan Plateau of China, is the highest mountain in China except summits in Tibet. Only limited meteorological data on Gongga Mountain have been published so far. Here we present the meteorological records from two stations, Moxi Station (at 1,621.7 m above sea level (a.s.l.), 1992–2010) and Hailuogou Station (at 2,947.8 m a.s.l., 1988–2010), on the eastern slope of Gongga Mountain. In the past two decades, the annual precipitation decreased while the annual mean temperature increased at Hailuogou Station. Both precipitation and temperature increased at Moxi Station. The precipitation variation on the eastern slope of Gongga Mountain is influenced by both East Asian Monsoon and Indian Monsoon, so that the precipitation concentrated between May and October. The temperature variation on the eastern slope of Gongga Mountain in the past two decades showed similar trends as that of the northern hemispheric and global. In the past two decades, the temperature increased 0.35°C and 0.3°C/decade at Hailuogou Station and Moxi Station respectively, which was higher than the increase extents of northern hemispheric and global temperature. The most intense warming occurred at the first decade of 21st century. The winter temperature increased more at Hailuogou Station than at Moxi Station. A remarkable increase of temperature in March was observed with only a little precipitation at both high and low altitude stations.