An analysis of errors in the calculation of energy flux densities above vegetation by a Bowen-ratio profile method

The Bowen-ratio profile method for calculating total carbon dioxide, latent heat, and sensible heat flux density above a corn crop was used by measuring temperature, water vapor, and CO₂ concentrations at several heights in the aerodynamic boundary layer of the crop. The ratio (α) of sensible heat flux density to carbon dioxide flux density as well as the Bowen ratio (β) were used in the computations. The two ratios, α and β were determined graphically from the slopes of linear plots of temperature vs CO₂ concentration and vs water vapor. Each of the energy flux densities was computed from the two ratios and net radiation minus soil heat flux density. An analysis of probable error was performed on the Bowen-ratio profile method to evaluate the accuracy of the flux density estimates. Less than 10% error was found for latent heat flux density and less than 15% for carbon dioxide flux density under normal midday conditions for the instrumentation used. However, the carbon dioxide flux density error increased to over 40% when the sensible heat flux was small.     

Carbon dioxide,water vapor and sensible heat fluxes over a tallgrass prairie

Fluxes of CO₂, water vapor and sensible heat were measured in a grassland ecosystem near Manhattan, Kansas, employing the eddy correlation technique. The vegetation at this site is dominated by big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), and indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans). Diurnal patterns of the energy budget components and CO₂ fluxes are evaluated on a few selected days. Influence of high atmospheric evaporative demand and low availability of soil water are examined on (a) energy partitioning, and (b) the magnitudes and patterns of atmospheric carbon dioxide exchange.Published as Paper No. 8470, Journal Series, Nebraska Agricultural Research Division.     

A global annually-averaged climate model with cloud,water vapor and CO2 feedbacks

In consideration of the radiation transfer, latent and sensible heat exchange between oceans and at-mosphere, a three-dimensional autonomous nonlinear ordinary differential equation is established by statis-tical parameterization method. The variables of the model are the mean ocean surface temperature Ts, mean atmospheric temperature Ta and atmospheric relative humidity f, and the feedbacks of clouds, water vapor and CO2 are involved. The steady state corresponding to the present-day climate can be obtained from this model. The analysis of parameter sensibility in the steady state indicates that clouds have consid-erable negative feedback effects and water vapor may affect the sign of CO2 feedback. The stability analysis of the steady state to small disturbance indicates that with increase of the positive feedback effect of clouds, the steady state goes through such a structural variance series as a stable node→a stable focal point→an unstable focal point→an unstable node, and when the steady state becomes unstable it undergoes a subcritical Hopf bifurcation. When the steady state is at a focal point, the periodic oscillation solutions of damping or amplifying can be obtained with the period being about two years.     

珠海凤凰山陆气相互作用与碳通量观测塔的基本观测及晴天主要观测量的日变化特征

珠海凤凰山地处北回归线以南,森林植被覆盖率达90%,植被类型为南亚热带常绿阔叶林群落,是岭南地区典型的城市或村庄周边的再生森林,我们选择在凤凰山麓森林冠层较为平缓的低矮坡地建立了陆-气相互作用和碳通量的观测铁塔塔站。本文详细介绍了观测塔的地理环境、初步的仪器布设和基本观测,并利用已获得的资料分析了旱季典型晴天主要观测量的日变化特征。太阳总辐射及其分光辐射和反射辐射的日变化都是比较常规的中午最高的对称结构;冠层接收到的长波辐射比向上长波辐射低;气温日变化的峰值比太阳辐射滞后,白天达到最高值前的气温是低层高于高层,达到最高值后到落日前气温陡然下降,夜晚的气温是低层低于高层。相对湿度凌晨最大,下午最小,夜晚是低层相对偏湿,白天正好相反;11月份,珠海地区盛行旱季的偏北季风,有明显的海陆风的作用,白天的海风较强,夜晚的陆风较弱;森林冠层向大气释放的感热和潜热的量值基本相当,潜热基本为正;感热白天为正,夜晚基本为负;森林冠层吸收的二氧化碳的最高值出现在午后,此时空气中水汽浓度达到最低,向大气释放的二氧化碳在日出后的清晨最大,此时空气中的二氧化碳浓度达到最大,同时空气密度也最大;由于森林冠层高、密度大,土壤湿度基本没有日变化;表层土壤温度日变化的振幅随土壤深度加深而变小,土壤热流的变化是下午高,清晨低。本文还发现了一些值得深入探讨的现象,需要以后根据充沛的资料分析论证。     

A lagrangian random-walk model for simulating water vapor,CO2 and sensible heat flux densities and scalar profiles over and within a soybean canopy

An integrated canopy micrometeorological model is described for calculating CO₂, water vapor and sensible heat exchange rates and scalar concentration profiles over and within a crop canopy. The integrated model employs a Lagrangian random walk algorithm to calculate turbulent diffusion. The integrated model extends previous Lagrangian modelling efforts by employing biochemical, physiological and micrometeorological principles to evaluate vegetative sources and sinks. Model simulations of water vapor, CO₂ and sensible heat flux densities are tested against measurements made over a soybean canopy, while calculations of scalar profiles are tested against measurements made above and within the canopy. The model simulates energy and mass fluxes and scalar profiles above the canopy successfully. On the other hand, model calculations of scalar profiles inside the canopy do not match measurements.The tested Lagrangian model is also used to evaluate simpler modelling schemes, as needed for regional and global applications. Simple, half-order closure modelling schemes (which assume a constant scalar profile in the canopy) do not yield large errors in the computation of latent heat (LE) and CO₂ (F _c ) flux densities. Small errors occur because the source-sink formulation of LE andF _c are relatively insensitive to changes in scalar concentrations and the scalar gradients are small. On the other hand, complicated modelling frames may be needed to calculate sensible heat flux densities; the source-sink formulation of sensible heat is closely coupled to the within-canopy air temperature profile.     

Nighttime convection in the interior of a dense Douglas fir forest

Infrared radiative surface temperatures as observed over a dense Douglas fir forest during stable atmospheric conditions are analyzed. It is shown that the concept of a single surface temperature to describe both the thermal coupling and the radiative coupling between atmosphere and forest fails when longwave cooling is large and wind speeds are low. In such cases a decoupling of the radiative surface temperature from the air temperature aloft is observed. Conditions for decoupling are formulated in terms of an appropriate Richardson number. It is shown that a convective surface temperature comes into play that is coupled to the forest interior air temperature. Observed radiative surface temperature is then composed of this convective surface temperature and the aerodynamic surface temperature. Forest interior air temperature during nighttime is, in general, lower than air temperature above the canopy. A simple two-layer canopy model is used to explain this phenomenon in terms of the distribution of atmospheric sensible heat flux and storage heat flux over the two canopy layers.     

Modelling Vegetation-Atmosphere Co2 Exchange By A Coupled Eulerian-Langrangian Approach

A Eulerian-Lagrangian canopy microclimate model wasdeveloped with the aim of discerning physical frombiophysical controls of CO₂ and H₂O fluxes. The model couples radiation attenuation with mass,energy, and momentum exchange at different canopylevels. A unique feature of the model is its abilityto combine higher order Eulerian closure approachesthat compute velocity statistics with Lagrangianscalar dispersion approaches within the canopy volume. Explicit accounting for within-canopy CO₂,H₂O, and heat storage is resolved by consideringnon-steadiness in mean scalar concentration andtemperature. A seven-day experiment was conducted inAugust 1998 to investigate whether the proposedmodel can reproduce temporal evolution of scalar(CO₂, H₂O and heat) fluxes, sources andsinks, and concentration profiles within and above auniform 15-year old pine forest. The modelreproduced well the measured depth-averaged canopy surfacetemperature, CO₂ and H₂O concentrationprofiles within the canopy volume, CO₂ storageflux, net radiation above the canopy, and heat andmass fluxes above the canopy, as well as the velocitystatistics near the canopy-atmosphere interface. Implications for scaling measured leaf-levelbiophysical functions to ecosystem scale are alsodiscussed.     

Estimation of Turbulent Fluxes Using the Flux-Variance Method over an Alpine Meadow Surface in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau

The flux-variance similarity relation and the vertical transfer of scalars exhibit dissimilarity over different types of surfaces,resulting in different parameterization approaches of relative transport efficiency among scalars to estimate turbulent fluxes using the flux-variance method.We investigated these issues using eddycovariance measurements over an open,homogeneous and flat grassland in the eastern Tibetan Plateau in summer under intermediate hydrological conditions during rainy season.In unstable conditions,the temperature,water vapor,and CO2 followed the flux-variance similarity relation,but did not show in precisely the same way due to different roles(active or passive) of these scalars.Similarity constants of temperature,water vapor and CO2 were found to be 1.12,1.19 and 1.17,respectively.Heat transportation was more efficient than water vapor and CO2.Based on the estimated sensible heat flux,five parameterization methods of relative transport efficiency of heat to water vapor and CO2 were examined to estimate latent heat and CO2 fluxes.The strategy of local determination of flux-variance similarity relation is recommended for the estimation of latent heat and CO2 fluxes.This approach is better for representing the averaged relative transport efficiency,and technically easier to apply,compared to other more complex ones.     

Carbon dioxide exchange in a temperate grassland ecosystem

Carbon dioxide exchange was measured, using the eddy correlation technique, over a tallgrass prairie in northeastern Kansas, U.S.A., during a six-month period in 1987. The diurnal patterns of daytime and nocturnal CO₂ fluxes are presented on eight selected days. These days were distributed throughout most of the growing season and covered a wide range of meteorological and soil water conditions. The midday CO₂ flux reached a maximum of 1.3 mg m^-2 (ground area) s^-1 during early July and was near zero during the dry period in late July. The dependence of the daytime carbon dioxide exchange on pertinent controlling variables, particularly photosynthetically active radiation, vapor pressure deficit and soil water content is discussed. The nocturnal CO₂ flux (soil plus plant respiration) averaged -0.4 mg m^-2 (ground area) s^-1 during early July and was about -0.2 mg m^-2 s^-1 during the dry period.Published as Paper No. 9061, Journal Series, Agricultural Research Division, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, U.S.A.Research Associate and Professor, respectively.     

Turbulence spectra of CO2, water vapor,temperature and wind velocity fluctuations over a crop surface

A prototype rapid-response CO₂ sensor was used in conjunction with a Lyman-alpha hygrometer, fine-wire thermocouples and a three-dimensional drag anemometer to measure CO₂, humidity, temperature and wind velocity fluctuations. Measurements were made over a soybean crop grown on relatively flat terrain near Mead, Nebraska.Temperature, humidity and CO₂ spectra measured under near neutral conditions were most similar in shape while longitudinal velocity (U) spectra appeared to be somewhat broader. Peaks occurred around f = 0.02 to 0.06 (where f is the non-dimensional frequency) in all spectra except for vertical velocity which had a peak near f = 0.5. As thermal stability changed from neutral to stable, spectra exhibited lower peaks, were narrower in shape and were shifted towards higher frequencies. Opposite behavior was observed with increasing instability.Cospectra for momentum, heat, water vapor and CO₂ measured during neutral conditions had similar peak frequencies (near f = 0.15). Among the cospectra studied, CO₂ and water vapor cospectra had the greatest similarity in shape.Published as Paper No. 7481, Journal Series, Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station. The work reported here was conducted under Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station Project 27-003 and Regional Research Project 11-33.Post-doctoral Research Associate and Professor, respectively, Center for Agricultural Meteorology and Climatology, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0728.     

Carbon dioxide,water vapor and sensible heat exchanges of a grain sorghum canopy

With the aid of eddy correlation instrumentation, the components of the energy budget and CO₂ flux were measured over grain sorghum grown at Mead, Nebraska. Diurnal patterns of sensible heat, latent heat, CO₂ and momentum flux are examined for typical days. On a mostly clear day when the crop leaf area index was 3.7, net radiation reached a mid-day peak of 560 W m^-2, while sensible and latent heat fluxes peaked at 50 and 460 W m^-2, respectively. The peak CO₂ flux occurring just prior to solar noon was 1.5 mg m^-2(ground area) s^-1. CO₂ flux (respiration from plants, soil and roots) in the early evening was about -0.28 mg m^-2 (ground area) s^-1.A relationship between CO₂ flux and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was developed. Except during the late stage of growth (growth stage 8.5, toward the initiation of senescence), the crop showed no evidence of saturation up to PAR 1800 Ei m^-2s^-1. The light compensation point was found to be about 211 Ei m^-2s^-1. Examination of CO₂ flux-PAR relationships for selected days through the season indicated an aging effect in terms of a decrease in photosynthetic activity of the sorghum canopy. Measurements made on two consecutive days demonstrate the effects of weather conditions on CO₂ flux and carbon-water flux ratio (a measure of water use efficiency of the crop). The occurrence of regional sensible heat advection with concommitant high vapor pressure deficit and air temperature-limited CO₂ exchange reduced the carbon-water flux ratio.Published as Paper No. 7717, Journal Series, Nebraska Agricultural Research Division. The work was conducted under Regional Research Project 11-33 and Nebraska Agricultural Research Division Project 27-003.Formerly Post Doctoral Research Associate (now at the University of Connecticut Department of Renewable Natural Resources Storrs CT)     

Turbulent carbon exchange in very stable conditions

Turbulent fluxes obtained using the conventional eddy covariance approach result in erratic results with large time fluctuations in extremely stable conditions. This can limit efforts to estimate components of the nocturnal energy budget and respiratory CO₂ fluxes. Well-organized fluxes that show a clear dependence on turbulent intensity were obtained when multiresolution decomposition was used to estimate turbulent exchanges. CO₂, heat and water vapour fluxes were observed at a site in the eastern Amazon basin that had been cleared for agricultural purposes. Temporal scales of the carbon transfer were determined and shown to be similar to those of latent heat, but as much as three times larger than those of sensible heat. CO₂ eddy diffusivities at the temporal scales on which most of the vertical CO₂ exchange occurs are shown to be 50 times larger than the eddy diffusivity for heat. A process associated with the vertical scale of the scalar accumulation layer is suggested to explain these different scales and turbulent diffusivities of carbon and sensible heat transfer. For an appreciable range of turbulence intensities, the observed vertical turbulent carbon exchange is insufficient to account for the locally respired CO₂ estimated independently. Evidence that shallow drainage currents may account for this is given.     

The vertical distribution of climate forcings and feedbacks from the surface to top of atmosphere

The radiative forcings and feedbacks that determine Earth’s climate sensitivity are typically defined at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) or tropopause, yet climate sensitivity itself refers to a change in temperature at the surface. In this paper, we describe how TOA radiative perturbations translate into surface temperature changes. It is shown using first principles that radiation changes at the TOA can be equated with the change in energy stored by the oceans and land surface. This ocean and land heat uptake in turn involves an adjustment of the surface radiative and non-radiative energy fluxes, with the latter being comprised of the turbulent exchange of latent and sensible heat between the surface and atmosphere. We employ the radiative kernel technique to decompose TOA radiative feedbacks in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report climate models into components associated with changes in radiative heating of the atmosphere and of the surface. (We consider the equilibrium response of atmosphere-mixed layer ocean models subjected to an instantaneous doubling of atmospheric CO₂). It is shown that most feedbacks, i.e., the temperature, water vapor and cloud feedbacks, (as well as CO₂ forcing) affect primarily the turbulent energy exchange at the surface rather than the radiative energy exchange. Specifically, the temperature feedback increases the surface turbulent (radiative) energy loss by 2.87 W m^?2 K^?1 (0.60 W m^?2 K^?1) in the multimodel mean; the water vapor feedback decreases the surface turbulent energy loss by 1.07 W m^?2 K^?1 and increases the surface radiative heating by 0.89 W m^?2 K^?1; and the cloud feedback decreases both the turbulent energy loss and the radiative heating at the surface by 0.43 and 0.24 W m^?2 K^?1, respectively. Since changes to the surface turbulent energy exchange are dominated in the global mean sense by changes in surface evaporation, these results serve to highlight the fundamental importance of the global water cycle to Earth’s climate sensitivity.     

Dissimilarity of Scalar Transport in the Convective Boundary Layer in Inhomogeneous Landscapes

A land-surface model (LSM) is coupled with a large-eddy simulation (LES) model to investigate the vegetation-atmosphere exchange of heat, water vapour, and carbon dioxide (CO₂) in heterogeneous landscapes. The dissimilarity of scalar transport in the lower convective boundary layer is quantified in several ways: eddy diffusivity, spatial structure of the scalar fields, and spatial and temporal variations in the surface fluxes of these scalars. The results show that eddy diffusivities differ among the three scalars, by up to 10–12%, in the surface layer; the difference is partly attributed to the influence of top-down diffusion. The turbulence-organized structures of CO₂ bear more resemblance to those of water vapour than those of the potential temperature. The surface fluxes when coupled with the flow aloft show large spatial variations even with perfectly homogeneous surface conditions and constant solar radiation forcing across the horizontal simulation domain. In general, the surface sensible heat flux shows the greatest spatial and temporal variations, and the CO₂ flux the least. Furthermore, our results show that the one-dimensional land-surface model scheme underestimates the surface heat flux by 3–8% and overestimates the water vapour and CO₂ fluxes by 2–8% and 1–9%, respectively, as compared to the flux simulated with the coupled LES-LSM.     

Projected global climate change impact on water temperatures in five north central U.S. streams

The effect of projected global climate change due to a doubling of atmospheric CO₂ on water temperatures in five streams in Minnesota was estimated using a deterministic heat transport model. The model calculates heat exchange between the atmosphere and the water and is driven by climate parameters and stream hydrologic parameters. The model is most sensitive to air temperature and solar radiation. The model was calibrated against detailed measurements to account for seasonally variable shading and wind sheltering. Using climate projections from the GISS, GFDL and OSU GCMs as input; stream temperature simulations predict a warming of freely flowing river reaches by 2.4 °C to 4.7 °C when atmospheric CO₂ doubles. In small shaded streams water temperatures are predicted to rise by an additional 6 °C in summer if trees along stream banks should be lost due to climate change or other human activities (e.g. logging). These projected water temperature changes have significant consequences for survival and growth of fishes. Simulation with the complete heat budget equations were also used to examine simplified water temperature/air temperature correlations.     

Water vapor transfer from a vegetated surface: A numberical study of bulk transfer coefficients and canopy resistances

The semi-analytical model outlined in previous studies (Massman, 1987a, b) to describe momentum and heat exchange between the atmosphere and vegetated surfaces is extended to include water vapor exchange. The methods employed are based on one-dimensional turbulent diffusivities and use numerical solutions to the steady-state diffusion equation. The model formulates stomatal response as a function of vapor pressure deficit and the within-canopy profile of mean photosynthetically-active radiation (PAR). It is then used to assess the influence that foliage structure, density, and sheltering can have upon the bulk transfer coefficient, kB _v ^-1, and the canopy resistance. A general analytical formulation of the canopy resistance based on the mean within-canopy profile of PAR is proposed and found to agree with the model's solutions for canopy resistance to within a few percent.     

On the climate response to zero ozone

Although ozone appears in the Earth’s atmosphere in a small abundance, it plays a key role in the energy balance of the planet through its involvement in radiative processes. Its absorption of solar radiation leads to the temperature increase with height defining the tropopause and the stratosphere. Moreover, excluding water vapor, O₃ is the third most important contributor (after CO₂ and CH₄) to the greenhouse radiative forcing. Thus, the total removal of O₃ content in an Earth-like atmosphere may cause interesting response of the climate system that deserves further investigation. The present paper addresses this issue by means of a global climate model where the atmosphere is coupled with a passive ocean of a given depth. The model, after reaching the statistical equilibrium under present climate conditions, is perturbed by a sudden switch off of the O₃ content. Results obtained for the new equilibrium suggest that the model gets in a colder state mainly because of the water vapor content decrease. Most of the cooling occurs in the Southern Hemisphere while in the Northern Hemisphere the ice cap melts quite consistently. This process appears to be governed by the northward cross-equatorial heat transports induced by changes in the general circulation.     

Comparative measurements and seasonal variations in energy and carbon exchange over forest and pasture in South West Amazonia

Summary Comparative measurements of radiation flux components and turbulent fluxes of energy and CO₂ are made at two sites in South West Amazonia: one in a tropical forest reserve and one in a pasture. The data were collected from February 1999 to September 2002, as part of the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA). During the dry seasons, although precipitation and specific humidity are greatly reduced, the soil moisture storage profiles down to 3.4m indicate that the forest vegetation continues to withdraw water from deep layers in the soil. For this reason, seasonal changes observed in the energy partition and CO₂ fluxes in the forest are small, compared to the large reductions in evaporation and photosynthesis observed in the pasture. For the radiation balance, the reflected short wave radiation increases by about 55% when changing from forest to pasture. Combined with an increase of 4.7% in long wave radiation loss, this causes an average reduction of 13.3% in net radiation in the pasture, compared to the forest. In the wet season, the evaporative fraction (E/R_n) at the pasture is 17% lower than at the forest. This difference increases to 24% during the dry season. Daytime CO₂ fluxes are 20–28% lower (in absolute values) in the pasture compared to the forest. The night-time respiration in the pasture is also reduced compared to the forest, with averages 44% and 57% lower in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. As the reduction in the nocturnal respiration is larger than the reduction in the daytime uptake, the combined effect is a 19–67% higher daily uptake of CO₂ in the pasture, compared to the forest. This high uptake of CO₂ in the pasture site is not surprising, since the growth of the vegetation is constantly renewed, as the cattle remove the biomass.     

Local and Global Similarity in Turbulent Transfer of Heat, Water Vapour, And CO 2 in the Dynamic Convective Sublayer Over a Suburban Area

We investigated the ‘local’ and ‘global’ similarity of vertical turbulent transfer of heat, water vapour, and CO₂ within an urban surface layer. The results were derived from field measurements in a residential area of Tokyo, Japan during midday on fair-weather days in July 2001. In this study, correlation coefficients and quadrant analysis were used for the evaluation of ‘global’ similarity and wavelet analysis was employed for investigating ‘local’ similarity. The correlation coefficients indicated that the transfer efficiencies of water vapour and CO₂ were generally smaller than that of heat. Using wavelet analysis, we found that heat is always efficiently transferred by thermal and organized motions. In contrast, water vapour and CO₂, which are passive quantities, were not transferred as efficiently as heat. The quadrant analyses showed that the heat transfer by ejection exceeded that by sweep, and the ratios of ejection to sweep for water vapour and CO₂ transfer were less than that for heat. This indicated that heat is more efficiently transferred by upward motions and supported the findings from wavelet analysis. The differences of turbulent transfer between heat and both CO₂ and water vapour were probably caused both by the active role of temperature and the heterogeneity in the source distribution of scalars     

Quantification of ecosystem carbon exchange characteristics in a dominant subtropical evergreen forest ecosystem

CO₂ fluxes were measured continuously for three years (2003?C2005) using the eddy covariance technique for the canopy layer with a height of 27 m above the ground in a dominant subtropical evergreen forest in Dinghushan, South China. By applying gapfilling methods, we quantified the different components of the carbon fluxes (net ecosystem exchange (NEE)), gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (R_eco) in order to assess the effects of meteorological variables on these fluxes and the atmospherecanopy interactions on the forest carbon cycle. Our results showed that monthly average daily maximum net CO₂ exchange of the whole ecosystem varied from ?3.79 to ?14.24 ??mol m^?2 s^?1 and was linearly related to photosynthetic active radiation. The Dinghushan forest acted as a net carbon sink of ?488 g C m^?2 y^?1, with a GPP of 1448 g Cm^?2 y^?1, and a R_eco of 961 g C m^?2 y^?1. Using a carboxylase-based model, we compared the predicted fluxes of CO₂ with measurements. GPP was modelled as 1443 g C m^?2 y^?1, and the model inversion results helped to explain ca. 90% of temporal variability of the measured ecosystem fluxes. Contribution of CO₂ fluxes in the subtropical forest in the dry season (October-March) was 62.2% of the annual total from the whole forest ecosystem. On average, 43.3% of the net annual carbon sink occurred between October and December, indicating that this time period is an important stage for uptake of CO₂ by the forest ecosystem from the atmosphere. Carbon uptake in the evergreen forest ecosystem is an indicator of the interaction of between the atmosphere and the canopy, especially in terms of driving climate factors such as temperature and rainfall events. We found that the Dinghushan evergreen forest is acting as a carbon sink almost year-round. The study can improve the evaluation of the net carbon uptake of tropical monsoon evergreen forest ecosystem in south China region under climate change conditions.