Variations and trends of onset, cessation and length of climatic growing season over Xinjiang, NW China

In this study, we assess spatial patterns of variations and trends of onset, cessation, and length of growing season using mean air temperature data recorded at 51 stations in Xinjiang province, NW China over the period 1959?C2008. Rank-based Mann?CKendall trend test and linear regression method are used to detect the significance and the magnitude of growing season change, respectively. Regionally, the average onset of the growing season has shifts 5.3?days earlier while the average ending date has moved 7.1?days later, increasing the length of the growing season by an average of 12.6?days. This study reveals a quite different result from previous studies. While the lengthening of the growing season in Xinjiang in the past 50?years is similar to that of previous studies, we find that the lengthening can be mainly attributed to delay of cessation in autumn rather than advance of onset in spring. The extended growing season will have strong implications in regional agricultural production of Xinjiang.