Spatial Interpolation of Daily Precipitation in China:1951-2005

Climate research relies heavily on good quality instrumental data; for modeling efforts gridded data are needed. So far, relatively little effort has been made to create gridded climate data for China. This is especially true for high-resolution daily data. This work, focuses on identifying an accurate method to produce gridded daily precipitation in China based on the observed data at 753 stations for the period 1951-2005. Five interpolation methods, including ordinary nearest neighbor, local polynomial, r...     

Spatio-temporal trend mapping of precipitation and its extremes across Afghanistan (1951–2010)

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - The civil war, harsh climate, tough topography, and lack of accurate meteorological stations have limited observed data across Afghanistan. To fulfill the gap,...     

Cause of severe droughts in Southwest China during 1951–2010

The cause of severe droughts over the Southwest China (SWC) during the local dry season is investigated based on the station rainfall data and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis data during 1951–2010. The droughts are in general consistent with local anomalous descent in the middle troposphere. The diagnosis of the vertical motion (omega) equation indicates that the local descent is primarily maintained by the anomalous cold temperature advection processes. Both the advection of anomalous temperature by mean wind and the advection of mean temperature by anomalous wind contribute to maintaining the anomalous descent over the SWC region. A composite analysis shows that the circulation anomaly over SWC is induced by remote forcing from the tropical Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans. During La Niña years, enhanced heating over the Maritime Continent induces anomalous downward motion over SWC through the connection of local Hadley circulation. Adiabatic warming associated with the downward motion helps to set up and maintain the local anomalous anticyclone. Another possible route is through the North Atlantic-Asia teleconnection, in which downstream Rossby wave energy propagation plays a crucial role. A negative-phase North Atlantic Oscillation may trigger a large-scale wave train pattern that induces an anomalous anticyclone over the subtropical Asia and promotes the dry condition over SWC.     

Climatic impacts on crop yield and its variability in Nepal: do they vary across seasons and altitudes?

A rapid change in climate patterns potentially driven by global warming is considered to be greatest threats to agriculture. However, little is known about how the change in climate concretely affects agricultural production especially in Nepal with respect to seasons and regions of different altitudes. To examine this issue, we seek to empirically identify the impact of climatic variation on agricultural yield and its variability by utilizing the data of rice, wheat and climate variables in the central region of Nepal. The main focus is on whether the impacts vary across seasons, altitudes and the types of crops. For this purpose, we employ a stochastic production function approach by controlling a novel set of season-wise climatic and geographical variables. The result shows that an increase in the variance of both temperature and rainfall has adverse effects on crop productions in general. On the other hand, a change in the mean levels of the temperature and rainfall induces heterogeneous impacts, which can be considered beneficial, harmful or negligible, depending on the altitudes and the kinds of crops. These results imply that adaptation strategies must be tailor-made in Nepalese agriculture, considering growing seasons, altitudes and the types of crops.     

Climate change affecting temperature and aridity zones: a case study in Eastern Inner Mongolia, China from 1960–2008

Recent climate change is substantially affecting the spatial pattern of geographical zones, and the temporal and spatial inconsistency of climatic warming and drying patterns contributes to the complexity of the shifting of temperature and aridity zones. Eastern Inner Mongolia, China, located in the interface region of different biomes and ecogeographic zones, has experienced dramatic drying and warming over the past several decades. In this study, the annual accumulated temperature above 10 °C (AAT10) and the aridity index, two key indicators in geographical regionalization, are used to assess warming and drying processes and track the movements of temperature and aridity zones from 1960 to 2008. The results show a significant warming at the regional level from 1960 to 2008 with an AAT10 increase rate of 7.89 °C·d/year (p?<?0.001) in Eastern Inner Mongolia, while the drying trend was not significant during this period. Spatial heterogeneity of warming and drying distributions was also evident. Analysis of warming and drying via piecewise regression revealed two separate, specific trends between the first 31 years (1960–1990) and the subsequent 18 years (1991–2008). Generally, mild warming and very slight wetting occurred prior to 1990, while after 1991 both warming and drying were significant and enhanced. Continuous warming drove a northward shift of temperature zones from the 1960s to 2000s, while aridity zones displayed enhanced temporal and spatial variability. Climate change effects on temperature and aridity zones imply that the patterns of cropping systems, macro-ecosystems, and human land use modes are potentially undergoing migration and modification due to climate change.     

《Climate and Environmental Change in China:1951-2012》一书出版

<正>由中国科学院秦大河院士、中国科学院寒区旱区环境与工程研究所丁永建研究员和中国科学院穆穆院士主编的《Climate and Environmental Change in China:1951-2012》一书近日已在Springer-Verlag公司出版。本书囊括了气候与环境变化科学的多个方面,包括自然的、社会的、经济的,以及人为影响方面等,也是了解中国气候和环境变化、     

Synergistic Interdecadal Evolution of Precipitation over Eastern China and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation during 1951–2015

By using the multi-taper method(MTM) of singular value decomposition(SVD), this study investigates the interdecadal evolution(10-to 30-year cycle) of precipitation over eastern China from 1951 to 2015 and its relationship with the North Pacific sea surface temperature(SST). Two significant interdecadal signals, one with an 11-year cycle and the other with a 23-year cycle, are identified in both the precipitation and SST fields. Results show that the North Pacific SST forcing modulates the precip...     

Moisture Sources and Their Contributions to Summer Precipitation in the East of Southwest China

Complex topography, special geographical location and sea-land-air interactions lead to high interannual variability of summer precipitation in the east of Southwest China (ESWC). However, the contributions, influencing factors and mechanisms of remote and local evaporation remain to be further investigated. Using clustering analysis and Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory version 5 model, we analyze the contributions of remote moisture transport and local evaporation to summer precipitation in the ESWC and their causes. There are mainly five remote moisture channels in the ESWC, namely the Arabian Sea channel, Bay of Bengal channel, western Pacific channel, Northwest channel 1 and Northwest channel 2. Among the five channels, the western Pacific channel has the largest number of trajectories, while the Bay of Bengal channel has the largest contribution rate of specific humidity (33.33%) and moisture flux (33.14%). The amount of regional average precipitation is close to that of the precipitation caused by remote moisture transport, and both are considerably greater than the rainfall amount caused by local evaporation. However, on interannual time scales, precipitation recirculation rates are negatively correlated to regional average precipitation and precipitation caused by remote moisture transport but are consistent with that caused by local evaporation. An apparent "+ ? +" wave train can be found on the height anomaly field in East Asia, and the sea surface temperature anomalies are positive in the equatorial Middle-East Pacific, the South China Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. These phenomena cause southwest-northeast moisture transport with strong updrafts, thereby resulting in more precipitation in the ESWC.     

Variability of Summer Atmospheric Moisture Flux and Its Effect on Precipitation over East China

1. IntroductionIt is known that droughts and floods result fromthe balance of water. Atmospheric water vapor notonly provides resources of water, but plays an impor-tant role in the water and heat cycle of climate sys-tem. IPCC (2001) pointed out that water cycle has anotable change on the background of climate change.Gutzler (1996) found that specific humidity at levelsof 1000, 700, and 300 hPa increases 3%-9% per decadeby using four sounding data in the western equato-rial Pacific. Howeve…     

Spatial and temporal variability of precipitation indices during 1961–2010 in Hunan Province,central south China

Based on daily precipitation records at 75 meteorological stations in Hunan Province, central south China, the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation indices is analyzed during 1961–2010. For precipitation extremes, most of precipitation indices suggest that both the amount and the intensity of extreme precipitation are increasing, especially the mean precipitation amount on a wet day, showing a significant positive trend. Meanwhile, both of the monthly rainfall heterogeneity and the contribution of the days with the greatest rainfall show an upward trend. When it comes to rainfall erosivity, most of this province is characterized by high values of annual rainfall erosivity. Although the directions of trends in annual rainfall erosivity at most stations are upward, only 6 of the 75 stations have significant trends. Furthermore, the spatial and temporal variation of dryness/wetness has been assessed by the standardized precipitation index (SPI). The principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the SPI series computed on 24-month time scales. The results demonstrated a noticeable spatial variability with three subregions characterized by different trends: a remarkable wet tendency prevails in the central and southern areas, while the northern areas are dominated by a remarkable dry tendency.     

Extreme events,trends, and variability in Northern Hemisphere lake-ice phenology (1855–2005)

Often extreme events, more than changes in mean conditions, have the greatest impact on the environment and human well-being. Here we examine changes in the occurrence of extremes in the timing of the annual formation and disappearance of lake ice in the Northern Hemisphere. Both changes in the mean condition and in variability around the mean condition can alter the probability of extreme events. Using long-term ice phenology data covering two periods 1855–6 to 2004–5 and 1905–6 to 2004–5 for a total of 75 lakes, we examined patterns in long-term trends and variability in the context of understanding the occurrence of extreme events. We also examined patterns in trends for a 30-year subset (1975–6 to 2004–5) of the 100-year data set. Trends for ice variables in the recent 30-year period were steeper than those in the 100- and 150-year periods, and trends in the 150-year period were steeper than in the 100-year period. Ranges of rates of change (days per decade) among time periods based on linear regression were 0.3−1.6 later for freeze, 0.5−1.9 earlier for breakup, and 0.7−4.3 shorter for duration. Mostly, standard deviation did not change, or it decreased in the 150-year and 100-year periods. During the recent 50-year period, standard deviation calculated in 10-year windows increased for all ice measures. For the 150-year and 100-year periods changes in the mean ice dates rather than changes in variability most strongly influenced the significant increases in the frequency of extreme lake ice events associated with warmer conditions and decreases in the frequency of extreme events associated with cooler conditions.     

Analysis of Paths and Sources of Moisture for the South China Rainfall during the Presummer Rainy Season of 1979–2014

The paths and sources of moisture supplied to South China during two periods of the presummer rainy season (April–June) of 1979–2014, i.e., before and after the onset of the summer monsoon over the South China Sea (SCS), are investigated by using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. During the premonsoon-onset period, the moisture transport trajectories are clustered into 6 groups, with four ocean-originating paths providing 83.9% and two continent-originating paths (originating over Lake Baikal and the Persian Gulf) contributing the remaining 16.1% of the total moisture. The two Pacific-originating paths, from the western Pacific Ocean and the East China Sea, combined account for about 46%, the SCS-originating path contributes about 24.3%, while the Bay of Bengal-originating path accounts for 13.6% of the total moisture over South China. The trajectories during the postmonsoon-onset period are clustered into 4 groups, with three southwesterly paths (from the Arabian Sea, the central Indian Ocean, and the western Indian Ocean, respectively) accounting for more than 76% and the sole Pacific-originating path accounting for 23.8% of the total moisture. The formation of the moisture transport trajectories is substantially affected by the topography, especially the Tibetan Plateau and the Indian and Indo–China Peninsulas. The SCS region contributes the most moisture during both periods (35.3% and 31.1%). The Pacific Ocean is ranked second during the former period (about 21.0%) but its contribution is reduced to 5.0% during the latter period, while the contribution from the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean combined increases from 17.1% to 43.2%.     

Comparison of Daily Extreme Temperatures over Eastern China and South Korea between 1996–2005

This paper examined the decadal mean, seasonal cycle, and interannual variations of mean and extreme temperatures using daily temperature and relative humidity data from 589 stations over eastern China and South Korea between 1996–2005. The results show that the decadal mean Tm (mean daily mean temperature) and the TNn (minimum daily minimum temperature) increase from north to south; the opposite spatial gradient is found in the DTR (diurnal temperature range); the value of the DTR over South Korea is in- b...     

Spatiotemporal variability of reference evapotranspiration and its contributing climatic factors in Yunnan Province, SW China, 1961–2004

Evapotranspiration is an important flux term in the water cycle that integrates atmospheric demand and surface conditions. Using the FAO Penman–Monteith method, we calculated monthly reference evapotranspiration (ET0) for 119 stations during 1961–2004 over Yunnan Province (YP), southwest China. Linear trend analysis shows that area-averaged annual and seasonal ET0 rates declined, with most remarkable decreases during pre-monsoon (?1.5 mm decade^?1, Mar–May) and monsoon (?0.6 mm decade^?1, Jun–Aug) seasons. Most of the stations with negative trends were concentrated in the eastern and northern parts of YP. Over the 44–year period, wind speed (WS), relative sunshine duration (SD) and relative humidity (RH) all showed decreasing trends, whereas maximum temperature (TMX) increased slightly. Multivariate regression analysis indicated that the variability of ET0 rates is most sensitive to the variations of SD, followed by RH, TMX and WS. The temporal evolution of these contributing factors was not stable during the study period, with an increasing contribution of SD and a decreasing contribution of TMX after the 1970s. Temporally changing contributions of climatic variables to ET0 should be taken into account when evapotranspiration rates are calculated with equations that rely on parameterization of climatic variables. Linking the changing contributions of climatic variables to ET0 rates to circulation features may help to better understand how ET0 responds to regional climatic change.     

Precipitation and temperature space–time variability and extremes in the Mediterranean region: evaluation of dynamical and statistical downscaling methods

This study evaluates how statistical and dynamical downscaling models as well as combined approach perform in retrieving the space–time variability of near-surface temperature and rainfall, as well as their extremes, over the whole Mediterranean region. The dynamical downscaling model used in this study is the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with varying land-surface models and resolutions (20 and 50 km) and the statistical tool is the Cumulative Distribution Function-transform (CDF-t). To achieve a spatially resolved downscaling over the Mediterranean basin, the European Climate Assessment and Dataset (ECA&D) gridded dataset is used for calibration and evaluation of the downscaling models. In the frame of HyMeX and MED-CORDEX international programs, the downscaling is performed on ERA-I reanalysis over the 1989–2008 period. The results show that despite local calibration, CDF-t produces more accurate spatial variability of near-surface temperature and rainfall with respect to ECA&D than WRF which solves the three-dimensional equation of conservation. This first suggests that at 20–50 km resolutions, these three-dimensional processes only weakly contribute to the local value of temperature and precipitation with respect to local one-dimensional processes. Calibration of CDF-t at each individual grid point is thus sufficient to reproduce accurately the spatial pattern. A second explanation is the use of gridded data such as ECA&D which smoothes in part the horizontal variability after data interpolation and damps the added value of dynamical downscaling. This explains partly the absence of added-value of the 2-stage downscaling approach which combines statistical and dynamical downscaling models. The temporal variability of statistically downscaled temperature and rainfall is finally strongly driven by the temporal variability of its forcing (here ERA-Interim or WRF simulations). CDF-t is thus efficient as a bias correction tool but does not show any added-value regarding the time variability of the downscaled field. Finally, the quality of the reference observation dataset is a key issue. Comparison of CDF-t calibrated with ECA&D dataset and WRF simulations to local measurements from weather stations not assimilated in ECA&D, shows that the temporal variability of the downscaled data with respect to the local observations is closer to the local measurements than to ECA&D data. This highlights the strong added-value of dynamical downscaling which improves the temporal variability of the atmospheric dynamics with regard to the driving model. This article highlights the benefits and inconveniences emerging from the use of both downscaling techniques for climate research. Our goal is to contribute to the discussion on the use of downscaling tools to assess the impact of climate change on regional scales.