Numerical identification models on the boundary and agro-climatic resources differences of the south subtropical zone in Fujian Province of China based on GIS

In contrary to the numbers of qualitative studies, there is few quantitative studies have been done on defining climate zone boundaries and on illustrating differences inside a zone. In order to find quantitative methods to demarcate a physical geography boundary and to reveal the agro-climatic resources differences of the South Subtropical Zone in Fujian Province of China based on the data collected from limited and discrete weather stations, this research tries to develop models that use mathematics methods and Geographical Information System (GIS) technology. Three modeling methods - Discriminant Analysis, Trend-surface with Residual (TSR) Analysis, and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were applied in the study to produce a distribution grid system of a set of indicators, and to define the spatial location of the zone boundary precisely. The results of the study show that the outputs of the models have very high significant level in statistical tests.