Temporal Change Characteristics of Climatic and Its Relationships with Atmospheric Circulation Patterns in Qinghai Lake Basin

Based on monthly meteorological data from 11 stations(1959-2015)in Qinghai Basin(QHB) and its surrounding area, we analyzed monthly average temperature(Tmean), average maximum(TXam), minimum temperature(TNam) and precipitation variation characteristics as well as the influence of atmospheric oscillation on these parameters using Mann-Kendall trend analysis, mutation analysis, continuous Morlet wavelet transform, Pearson correlation analysis and R/S analysis method. In addition, the future trend of climate change in the regional scale was also discussed. We found that the temperature and precipitation increment were obvious in the region, especially the Tmean in autumn, winter, TXam and TNam in summer and winter precipitation showing significant increase. Temperature and precipitation experienced abrupt changes around 1986 and 2002, respectively. The period of oscillation of each temperature indices was similar featuring 2~3 years,8~10 years short- cycle and 30~32 years middle- cycle, while that for the precipitation featured 3~4 years,6~7 years short- cycle and 30~32 years middle- cycle. The East Asian Summer Monsoon Index(EASMI) anomaly is an important factor for the anomaly of autumn temperature and summer precipitation in QHB, while the Indian Summer Monsoon Index(ISMI) mainly affects the spring temperature and precipitation in the research area. The effects of Arctic Oscillation Index (AO) were relatively strong on temperature variation, especially in autumn and winter, and AO had significant effect on the precipitation in spring, summer and winter, too. The North Atlantic Oscillation Index (NAO) and ENSO have weak influence on the study area, NAO mainly affects summer and winter precipitation, while ENSO mainly affects autumn precipitation. The Hurst index of Tmean and annual precipitation in QHB are higher than 0.5, indicating that the temperature and precipitation in the study area will continue to be the positive trend in the future period.