Spatial and temporal temperature variations in Xinjiang, China during 1961–2008

This study examines spatial and temporal changes in 16 extreme temperature indices at 37 weather stations in Xinjiang and their associations with changes in climate means during 1961–2008. Linear regression analyses reveal that significant increasing trends in temperature were observed over Xinjiang, with the rate of 0.13 °C/decade, 0.24 °C/decade, and 0.52 °C/decade for annual mean temperature, annual maximum, and minimum temperature, respectively. Annual frequency of cool nights (days) has decreased by -2.45 days/decade (-0.86 days/decade), whereas the frequency of warm nights (days) has increased by 4.85 days/decade (1.62 days/decade). Seasonally, the frequencies of summer warm nights and days are changing more rapidly than the corresponding frequencies for cool nights and days. However, normalization of the extreme and mean series shows that the rate of changes in extreme temperature events are generally less than those of mean temperatures, except for winter cold nights which are changing as rapidly as the winter mean minimum temperatures. These results indicate that there have been seasonally and diurnally asymmetric changes in extreme temperature events relative to recent increases in temperature means in Xinjiang.     

Distribution and trend in the thermal growing season in China during 1961–2015

Abstract

Based on daily mean temperature at 1863 meteorological stations in China, the trend in the thermal growing season was investigated and time-evolving probability distributions of temperature were examined. Results showed that during 1961–2015, the growing season was extended at rates of 1.5–5.0 days decade^?1 in Northeast China, North China, Northwest China, and western and central parts of Southwest China. This change was ascribed to an earlier start of the growing season at rates of 1.5–3.0 days decade^?1 in North China, the northern and western parts of Northeast China, and the northeastern part of Northwest China, and a later end at rates of 0.5–2.5 days decade^?1 in Northwest China, the western and northern parts of Southwest China, and the northwest of North China. The earlier start of the growing season was in accordance with the rapid warming of lower portions of the spring temperature distribution in Northeast China, North China, and Northwest China. The later end of the growing season corresponded to rapid warming in the lower percentiles of autumn temperature distribution in Northwest China. The growing season is more sensitive to warming of lower percentiles of temperature distribution than other portions.     

Spatio-temporal distribution and transformation of cropland in geomorphologic regions of China during 1990–2015

Journal of Geographical Sciences - Landforms are an important factor determining the spatial pattern of cropland through allocation of surface water and heat. Therefore, it is of great importance...     

Spatio-temporal pattern changes of land space in Hengduan Mountains during 1990–2015

Hengduan Mountains offer land space for a variety of ecological services. However, the sustainable development and management of land space has been challenged by increased human activities in recent years. This paper performs the spatial pattern analysis of the quantitative and structural changes of various landscapes at different altitudes, and uses the land use data in 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2015 to reveal how various land patterns have changed. The results show that, within the production-living-ecological space schema, the ecological space dominates Hengduan Mountains, while the production and living space was mainly distributed in south region. During 1990–2015, the production-living-ecological spatial changes had been gradually accelerated and the regional differences had become more prominent. The agricultural production space had continuously decreased by 1132.31 km², and the industrial and mining production space had rapidly increased by 281.4 km² during 1990–2015. The living space had steadily increased, and the ecological space had increased with fluctuations. The land space pattern in Hengduan Mountains was greatly restricted by the terrain, such as altitude and slope. The implementations of China Western Development Strategy and the Returning Farmland to Forest Program had favorably promoted the changes of land spatial pattern in Hengduan Mountains.     

Spatio-temporal analysis of land-use conversion in the eastern coastal China during 1996–2005

Based on the acquaintance of the regional background of urban-rural transformational development and investigations on the spot,this paper discusses the holistic situation, dominant factors and mechanism of arable land loss and land for construction occupation in the coastal area of China over the last decade,with the aid of GIS technology.Conclusions of the research are summarized as follows：（1）the arable land had been continuously decreasing from 1996 to 2005,with a loss of 1,708,700 hm^2 and an average decrement of 170,900 hm^2 per year;（2）land for construction increased 1,373,700 hm^2 ,with an average increment of 153,200 hm^2 per year;（3）total area of encroachment on arable land for construction between 1996 and 2005 was 1,053,100 hm^2 ,accounting for 34.03%of the arable land loss in the same period,the percentages of which used for industrial land（INL）,transportation land（TRL）,rural construction land（RUL）and town construction land（TOL）are 45.03%,15.8%,15.47%and 11.5%,respectively;and（4）the fluctuation of the increase of construction land and encroachment on arable land in the area were deeply influenced by the nation＇s macroscopic land-use policies and development level of regional economy.The growth of population and advancement of technology promoted the rapid industrialization, construction of transportation infrastructures,rural urbanization and expansion of rural settlements in the eastern coastal area,and therefore were the primary driving forces of land-use conversion.     

Climatic characteristics of high temperature in East China during 1961–2005

Based on the daily maximum temperature data covering the period 1961-2005, temporal and spatial characteristics and their changing in mean annual and monthly high temperature days（HTDs）and the mean daily maximum temperature（MDMT）during annual and monthly HTDs in East China were studied.The results show that the mean annual HTDs were 15.1 and the MDMT during annual HTDs was 36.3℃in the past 45 years.Both the mean annual HTDs and the MDMT during annual HTDs were negative anomaly in the1980s and positive anomaly in the other periods of time,oscillating with a cycle of about 12-15 years.The mean annual HTDs were more in the southern part,but less in the northern part of East China.The MDMT during annual HTDs was higher in Zhejiang,Anhui and Jiangxi provinces in the central and western parts of East China.The high temperature process（HTP） was more in the southwestern part,but less in northeastern part of East China.Both the HTDs and the numbers of HTP were at most in July,and the MDMT during monthly HTDs was also the highest in July.In the first 5 years of the 21st century,the mean annual HTDs and the MDMT during annual HTDs increased at most of the stations,both the mean monthly HTDs and the MDMT during monthly HTDs were positive anomalies from April to October,the number of each type of HTP generally was at most and the MDMT in each type of HTP was also the highest.     

Spatial-temporal variations in cold surge events in northern China during the period 1960–2016

Journal of Geographical Sciences - Among the most devastating extreme weather events, cold surge (CS) events frequently impact northern China. It has been reported that extreme weather events will...     

Spatiotemporal changes in frequency and intensity of high-temperature events in China during 1961–2014

In this study, we explored spatial patterns and the temporal trends in high-temperature events (HTEs) for the mainland of China during 1961–2014 based on a daily- maximum surface-air-temperature dataset of 494 stations and nonparametric trend detection methods. With three thresholds of 35°C (HTE35), 37°C (HTE37), and 40°C (HTE40), HTEs occurred in 82%, 71%, and 37% of the surveyed stations and showed an overall increasing trend in both frequency and intensity during 1961–2014. In northern and southeastern China, HTEs showed a significant increasing trend in both frequency and intensity, whilst a decreasing trend for both was observed in central China. Despite such regional heterogeneity, HTEs overwhelmingly presented three-phase characteristics in all three representative regions and throughout China; the phases are 1961–1980, 1980–1990, and 1990–2014. Both frequency and intensity of HTEs have strongly increased during 1990–2014 at 54.86%, 48.38%, and 23.28% of the investigated stations for HTE35, HTE37 and HTE40, respectively. These findings implied that HTEs adaptation should be paid further attention in the future over China because the wide spread distribution of HTEs and their increasing trends in both frequency and intensity during recent decades might pose challenges to the sustainability of human society and the ecosystem.     

Spatio-temporal differences in cloud cover of Landsat-8 OLI observations across China during 2013–2016

Currently, the historical archive images of Landsat family sensors are probably the most effective data products for tracking global longitudinal changes since the 1970s. However, the issue of the degree and extent of cloud coverage is always a challenge and varies distinctively worldwide. So far, acquisition probability (AP) analyses of cloud cover (CC) of Landsat observations have been conducted with different sensors at regional scale. To our knowledge, CC probability analysis for the newly-launched Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) across China is not reported. In this paper, monthly, seasonal, and annual APs for Landsat OLI (44,228 in total) images over China acquired from April 2013 to October 2016 with various CC thresholds were analyzed. The results showed that: first, the cumulative average APs of all OLI data over China at the CC thresholds ≤30% was about 49.6% which illustrated the availability of OLI imagery across China. Second, the spatial patterns of 10%, 20%, and 30% CC thresholds of OLI observations, coincided well with the precipitation distributions separated by the respective 200 mm, 400 mm, and 800 mm isohyetal lines. Third, the APs of images with the 30% CC threshold are the highest in autumn and winter especially in October of 58.7%, while the corresponding lowest probability occurred in June of 41.0%. Finally, the spatial differences in APs of targeted images with ≤30% CC thresholds were quite significant. At regional scales, the arid and semi-arid areas, Inland River and Songliao River basins, and northwestern side of the Hu Huanyong population line had the larger probabilities of obtaining high-quality images. Our study suggested that OLI imagery satisfy the data requirements needed for land surface monitoring, although there existed obvious spatio-temporal differences in APs over China at the 30% CC threshold.     

Spatio-temporal variations in ecological spaces and their ecological carrying status in China’s mega-urban agglomerations

Journal of Geographical Sciences - The rapid expansion of China’s urban agglomerations in recent decades has resulted in over-occupied ecological spaces and increased ecological pressure that...     

Spatial-temporal variations of vegetation cover in Yellow River Basin of China during 1998–2008

Using an integrated method combining wavelet analysis and non-parameter Mann-Kendall test, this paper analyzed spatial-temporal variations of vegetation cover in the Yellow River Basin based on SPOT-VEG images from 1998 to 2008. The results indicate: (1) Vegetation cover presented marked seasonal variation during the study period, with minima around winter and maxima in summer. The detail component D5 (with semi-period of 240 days) has presented a major contribution to the intra-annual variability. Forest vegetation presents a marked decreasing trend, while alpine shrubs, meadow, typical steppe, desert steppe, and forest (meadow) steppe vegetation all show a marked increasing trend. (2) Mean vegetation amount increased from the upper to lower reaches of the basin. It is low in the Ordos Plateau and Loess Plateau, and high in the southern Loess Plateau and the lower reaches. Amplitude of the annual phenological cycle presents an opposite pattern in spatial distribution with that of the mean vegetation amount. (3) Vegetation cover presented a dominant positive inter-annual change trend, which implies that the eco-environment in the region has steadily improved. Only a few areas show a negative trend, which are located in the upper reaches and the southern Loess Plateau.     

Correlation analysis between vegetation coverage and climate drought conditions in North China during 2001–2013

Climate change is one of the most important factors that affect vegetation distribution in North China. Among all climatic factors, drought is considered to have the most significant effect on the environment. Based on previous studies, the climate drought index can be used to assess the evolutionary trend of the ecological environment under various arid climatic conditions. It is necessary for us to further explore the relationship between vegetation coverage (index) and climate drought conditions. Therefore, in this study, based on MODIS-NDVI products and meteorological observation data, the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and vegetation coverage in North China were first calculated. Then, the interannual variations of PDSI and vegetation coverage during 2001–2013 were analyzed using a Theil-Sen slope estimator. Finally, an ecoregion perspective of the correlation between them was discussed. The experimental results demonstrated that the PDSI index and vegetation coverage value varied over different ecoregions. During the period 2001–2013, vegetation coverage increased in the southern and northern mountains of North China, while it showed a decreasing trend in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan City Circle area and suburban agricultural zone located in Hebei Province and Henan Province). Over 13 years, the climate of the northeastern part of North China became more humid, while in the southern part of North China, it tended to be dry. According to the correlation analysis results, 73.37% of North China showed a positive correlation between the vegetation coverage and climate drought index. A negative correlation was observed mainly in urban and suburban areas of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei Province, and Henan Province. In most parts of North China, drought conditions in summer and autumn had a strong influence on vegetation coverage.     

Attribution of trends in meteorological drought during 1960–2016 over the Loess Plateau,China

This study uses two forms of the Palmer Drought Severity Index(PDSI), namely the PDSI_TH(potential evapotranspiration estimated-by the Thornthwaite equation) and the PDSI_PM(potential evapotranspiration estimated by the FAO Penman-Monteith equation), to characterize the meteorological drought trends during 1960–2016 in the Loess Plateau(LP) and its four subregions. By designing a series of numerical experiments, we mainly investigated various climatic factors' contributions to the drought trends at annual, summer, and autumn time scales. Overall, the drying trend in the PDSI_TH is much larger than that in the PDSI_PM. The former is more sensitive to air temperature than precipitation, while the latter is the most sensitive to precipitation among all meteorological factors. Increasing temperature results in a decreasing trend(drying) in the PDSI_TH, which is further aggravated by decreasing precipitation, jointly leading to a relatively severe drying trend. For the PDSI_PM that considers more comprehensive climatic factors, the drying trend is partly counteracted by the declining wind speed and solar radiation. Therefore, the PDSI_PM ultimately shows a much smaller drying trend in the past decades.     

Assessing changes in wind erosion climatic erosivity in China’s dryland region during 1961–2012

China’s dryland region has serious wind erosion problem and is sensitive to climate change due to its fragile ecological condition. Wind erosion climatic erosivity is a measure of climatic factors influencing wind erosion, therefore, evaluation of its intensity and response to recent climate changes can contribute to the understanding of climate change effect on wind erosion risk. Using the FAO equation, GIS and statistical analysis tools, this study quantified the climatic erosivity, analyzed its spatiotemporal variations, and detected the trend and sensitivity to climate factors during 1961–2012. The results indicate that mean annual climatic erosivity was 2–166 at 292 stations and 237–471 at 6 stations, with the spatial distribution highly in accordance with wind speed (R² = 0.94). The climatic erosivity varied greatly over time with the annual variation (CV) of 14.7%–108.9% and monthly variation (concentration degree) of 0.10–0.71 in the region. Meanwhile, annual erosivity showed a significant downward trend at an annual decreasing rate mostly above 1.0%. This significantly decreasing trend was mainly attributed to the obvious decline of wind speed during the period. The results suggest that the recent climate changes were highly possible to induce a decrease of wind erosion risk in China’s dryland region.     

Spatiotemporal patterns and characteristics of land-use change in China during 2010–2015

Land use/cover change is an important theme on the impacts of human activities on the earth systems and global environmental change. National land-use changes of China during 2010–2015 were acquired by the digital interpretation method using the high-resolution remotely sensed images, e.g. the Landsat 8 OLI, GF-2 remote sensing images. The spatiotemporal characteristics of land-use changes across China during 2010–2015 were revealed by the indexes of dynamic degree model, annual land-use changes ratio etc. The results indicated that the built-up land increased by 24.6×10³ km² while the cropland decreased by 4.9×10³ km², and the total area of woodland and grassland decreased by 16.4×10³ km². The spatial pattern of land-use changes in China during 2010–2015 was concordant with that of the period 2000–2010. Specially, new characteristics of land-use changes emerged in different regions of China in 2010–2015. The built-up land in eastern China expanded continually, and the total area of cropland decreased, both at decreasing rates. The rates of built-up land expansion and cropland shrinkage were accelerated in central China. The rates of built-up land expansion and cropland growth increased in western China, while the decreasing rate of woodland and grassland accelerated. In northeastern China, built-up land expansion slowed continually, and cropland area increased slightly accompanied by the conversions between paddy land and dry land. Besides, woodland and grassland area decreased in northeastern China. The characteristics of land-use changes in eastern China were essentially consistent with the spatial govern and control requirements of the optimal development zones and key development zones according to the Major Function-oriented Zones Planning implemented during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015). It was a serious challenge for the central government of China to effectively protect the reasonable layout of land use types dominated with the key ecological function zones and agricultural production zones in central and western China. Furthermore, the local governments should take effective measures to strengthen the management of territorial development in future.     

Urban land expansion and its driving factors of mountain cities in China during 1990–2015

Land expansion of mountain cities in China is not systematically studied yet. This study identified 55 major mountain cities at and above prefecture level, and analyzed the land expansion characteristics and driving forces, based on visually interpreted data from TM images in 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2015. From 1990 to 2015, total built-up land area of the mountain cities increased by 3.87 times, 5.56% per year. The urban land growth was apparently accelerated after 2000, from 4.35% per year during 1990–2000 increased to 6.47% during 2000–2010 and 6.2% during 2010–2015. Compared to the urban population growth, the urban land expansion rate was 44% higher. As a result, the urban land area per capita increased, but it was still within the government control target, and also was much lower than the average of all cities in China. Urban development policy, changes to administrative divisions, GDP and population growth, and road construction were identified as the major driving forces of land expansion. Terrain conditions were not found a relevance to the urban land expansion rate during 1990–2015, but had a significant impact on the layout and shape, and also probably on the urban land efficiency.     

Mapping cropping intensity trends in China during 1982–2013

Long range continuous monitoring information of cropping intensity is useful for sustainable agricultural management but still limited. This study filled this information gap through delivering spatiotemporal continuous datasets of cropping intensity in China during the past 30 years. Cropping intensity data were derived by a wavelet features-based method based on the long-term weekly global EVI2 (Enhance Vegetation Index with two bands) at 0.05° spatial resolution (5 km) from 1982 to 1999 and 8-day composite 500 m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface reflectance products from 2001 to 2013. The remote-sensing estimated images in 2013 agreed well with field survey data (overall accuracy = 91.63%) and the national agricultural census data (r² = 0.89). Results revealed that the cropping intensity remarkably increased during 1982–1999 but slightly declined during 2001–2013. The overall cropping intensity increased from 1.34 in the 1980s to 1.41 in the 1990s, and then dropped to an average of 1.36 after 2000. From 1982 to 1999, approximately 93,225 km² single-cropped areas changed to double-cropping, primarily those located in the North China plain. However, 39,883 km² double-cropped areas were turned back into single-cropping areas from 2001 to 2013, principally located in the North China plain, the Middle-lower Yangtze River plain, and the hill regions of the southern Yangtze River. This reverse trend of cropping intensity was due to combined effects from the corresponding reverse variations in agricultural population, increasing agricultural mechanical power, positive agricultural policy. The agricultural duty free policy has only immediate effects on stabilizing cropping intensity in croplands with more favorable biophysical conditions.     

Monitoring periodically national land use changes and analyzing their spatiotemporal patterns in China during 2015–2020

Journal of Geographical Sciences - High-resolution mapping and monitoring of national land use/cover changes contribute significantly to the knowledge of the interaction between human activities...     

Temperature variations evidenced by records on the latest spring snowing dates in Hangzhou of eastern China during 1131–1270AD

We collected and verified documentary records of the latest spring snowing dates(LSSD) in Hangzhou during Southern Song Dynasty. Furtherly, the statistical correlation between this proxy and February–April mean temperature in Hangzhou was examined, and samples later than the perennial mean of the LSSD during Southern Song Dynasty were transformed into the decadal mean of LSSD by means of Boltzmann function. General characteristics of this reconstructed LSSD series with a 10-year temporal resolution was analyzed, and it was also compared with other documentary evidences and reconstructed climate series in China for the period 1131–1270. The results and discussion suggested that:(1) Records of the LSSD in Hangzhou during Southern Song Dynasty did not refer to ice pellets and graupels, which had an explicit climate significance(–0.34℃/10 d, R2=0.37, p0.001). However, when this proxy is used to reconstruct temperature changes, all dates should be converted into proleptic Gregorian style and meet the same criterion of "true Qi" as the Chinese traditional calendar after 1929.(2) The decadal mean of LSSD can be effectively estimated by using the forefront of LSSD in the decade on the basis of Boltzmann function, whose extrapolation has a lesser uncertainty than those on the basis of linear models or polynomial models.(3) The spring climate in Hangzhou during 1131–1270 was almost as warm as the period 1951–1980. At the centennial scale, this period can be divided into two phases: the cold 1131–1170 and the warm 1171–1270. In the latter, 1181–1200 and 1221–1240 were two cold intervals at the multi-decadal scale.(4) The reconstructed LSSD series was consistent well with other documentary evidences and reconstructed climate series in China for 1131–1270, which may reflect the influence on the climate over most regions of China imposed by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation(PDO).     

Cloudiness variations over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during 1971–2004

With Empirical Orthogonal Function （EOF） and trend analysis method adopted, the spatio-temporal variation of total cloud amount is analyzed for 75 stations on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during the period 1971-2004. Analysis indicates that the total cloud amount decreases from the southeast to the northwest of the plateau, and that the annual and seasonal variations in total cloud amount both show an apparent declining tendency over the past decades. Correlation analysis demonstrates that the total cloud amount is negative with sunshine duration and diurnal temperature range （DTR）, and is positive with precipitation and the relative humidity, respectively. The negative correlation is consistent with the radiative effect of cloud, while the positive correlation between total cloud amount and precipitation is obscured because of the influence of topographic factors. Discussion implies that the decrease of total cloud amount is possibly due to the variation of atmospheric aerosol content and ozone concentration over the plateau, although it is difficult to quantify the driving force mechanism up to now.