中国天气发生器的降水模拟

A stochastic model for daily precipitation simulation in China was developed based on the framework of a ‘Richardson-type‘ weather generator that is an important tool in studying impacts of weather/climate on a variety of systems including ecosystem and risk assessment. The purpose of this work is to develop a weather generator for applications in China. The focus is on precipitation simulation since determination of other weather variables such as temperature is dependent on precipitation simulation. A framework of first order Markov Chain with Gamma Distribution for daily precipitation is adopted in this work. Based on this framework, four parameters of precipitation simulation for each month at 672 stations all over China were determined using daily precipitation data from 1961 to 2000. Compared with previous works, our estimation for the parameters was made for more stations and longer observations, which makes the weather generator more applicable and reliable. Spatial distributions of the four parameters are analyzed in a regional climate context. The seasonal variations of these parameters at five stations representing regional differences are discussed.Based on the estimated monthly parameters at 672 stations, daily precipitations for any period can be simulated. A 30-year simulation was made and compared with observations during 1971-2000 in terms of annual and monthly statistics. The results are satisfactory, which demonstrates the usefulness of the weather generator.     

Study of temperature and precipitation change in upstream mountain area of the Hexi inland river basin since 1960s

All rivers in the Hexi inland region of Gansu Province, China, originate from the northern slope of the Qilian Mountains. They are located in the southern portion of the region and respectively belong to the three large river systems from east to west, the Shiyang, Heihe and Shule river basins. These rivers are supplied by precipitation, snowmelt and ice-melt runoff from the Qilian Mountain area. Therefore, changes of precipitation and temperature in the upstream watersheds of these rivers have an important effect on changes of mountainous runoff and reasonable utilization of water resources in this region. For this reason, the Qilian Mountain area, upstream watersheds and runoff forming areas of these rivers are chosen as the study area. The change characteristics and variation trend of temperature and precipitation in this area under the backdrop of global warming are analyzed based on observational data of relational weather and hydrologic stations in the area. Results show that temperatures in the upriver mountain areas of these three large river basins have been increasing, although the increasing degree is differentially affected by global warming. The rising extent of annual and seasonal temperatures in the upstream mountain area of the Shule river basin located in the western Qilian Mountains, were all largest over the past 50 years. Precipitation in the upstream mountain areas of Hexi region’ three river basins located respectively in the western, middle and eastern Qilian Mountains have been presenting an increasing trend to varying degrees as a whole for more than 50 years. This means that climate in the upstream mountain areas of Hexi region’ three river basins are becoming increasingly warmer and moister over the past 50 years, which will be very good for the ecological environment and agricultural production in the region.     

Spatial and temporal patterns of solar radiation in China from 1957 to 2016

Solar energy is clean and renewable energy that plays an important role in mitigating impacts of environmental problems and climate change.Solar radiation received on the earth's surface determines the efficiency of power generation and the location and layout of photovoltaic arrays.In this paper,the average daily solar radiation of 77 stations in China from 1957 to 2016 was analyzed in terms of spatial and temporal characteristics.The results indicate that Xinjiang,the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,North,Central and East China show a decreasing trend with an average of 2.54×10^?3MJ/(m²?10a),while Northwest and Northeast China are basically stabilized,and Southwest China shows a clear increasing trend with an average increase of 1.79×10^?3MJ/(m²?10a).The average daily solar radiation in summer and winter in China from 1957 to 2016 was 18.74 MJ/m²and 9.09 MJ/m²,respectively.Except for spring in Northwest,East and South China,and summer in northeast China,the average daily solar radiation in all other regions show a downward trend.A critical point for the change is 1983 in the average daily solar radiation.Meanwhile,large-scale(25?30 years)oscillation changes are more obvious,while small-scale(5?10 years)changes are stable and have a global scope.The average daily solar radiation shows an increasing-decreasing gradient from west to east,which can be divided into three areas west of 80°E,80°E?100°E and east of 100°E.The average daily solar radiation was 2.07 MJ/m²in the 1980s,and that in 1990s lower than that in the 1960s and the 1970s.The average daily solar radiation has rebounded in the 21st century,but overall it is still lower than the average daily solar radiation from 1957 to 2016(13.87 MJ/m²).     

Wavelet analysis of quasi-3-year temperature oscillations in China in last 50 years, and predicted changes in the next 20 years

The wavelet analysis method is used to analyze the annual and winter temperature data of 98 observation stations in China in eight climate zones during the last 50 years （1961-2009）. The periodicities of temperature changes are investigated, and the possible temperature change trends in China in the next 20 years （2012-2029） are also predicted. Our results show that in the inter-annual temperature variability there are pervasive quasi-3- to quasi-4-year cycles, and these cycle changes are relatively steady. The periodic characteristics of the annual temperature changes are clearly different between northern and southern China, and our period superimposition extrapolation shows that both annual and winter temperatures in China will continue to increase in the next 20 years, more so in northern China and in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau （QXP） than in the southern region, except in the southwest. If temperatures follow historic increasing linear trends, the overall temper- ature is expected to increase by 1℃ between 2010 and 2029.     

Variations of the temperature and solar activity in China

In this paper we analyze daily mean, minimum, and maximum temperature data collected at 119 meteorological stations over five regions of China during the period 1951-2010. The series of minimum, maximum, and mean temperatures from each climatic region have similar signatures, but there are differences among the five regions and the countrywide average. The results indicate that the periods of faster warming were not synchronous across the regions studied： warming in northeast China and Tibet began in 1986, while in central-east, southeast, and northwest China the warming emerged in 1995. Furthermore, central-east and northwest China, and Tibet, have warmed continuously since 2000, but the temperature has decreased during this period in southeast China. We evaluated the evolution of these temperature series using a novel nonlinear filtering technique based on the concept of the lifetime of temperature curves. The decadal to secular evolution of solar activity and temperature variation had similar signatures in the northeast, southeast, and northwest re- gions and the average across the whole country, indicating that solar activity is a significant control on climate change over secular time scales in these regions. In comparison with these regions, the signatures were different in central-east China and Tibet because of regional differences （e.g., landforms and elevation） and indirect effects （e.g., cloud cover influencing the radiation balance, thereby inducing climate change）. Furthermore, the results of wavelet analysis indicated that the El Nino Southem Oscillation （ENSO） has had a significant impact on climate change, but at different times among the regions, and these changes were most probably induced by differing responses of the atmospheric system to solar forcing.     

未来气候情景下中国生态地理区域系统温度带的北移(英文)

Despite the well-documented effects of global climate change on terrestrial species' ranges,eco-geographical regions as the regional scale of ecosystems have been poorly studied especially in China with diverse climate and ecosystems.Here we analyse the shift of temperature zones in eco-geographical study over China using projected future climate scenario.Projected climate data with high resolution during 1961-2080 were simulated using regional climate model of PRECIS.The number of days with mean daily temperature above 10℃ and the mean temperature of January are usually regarded as the principal criteria to indicate temperature zones,which are sensitive to climate change.Shifts due to future climate change were calculated by comparing the latitude of grid cells for the future borderline of one temperature zone with that for baseline period(1961-1990).Results indicated that the ranges of Tropical,Subtropical,Warm Temperate and Plateau Temperate Zones would be enlarged and the ranges of Cold Temperate,Temperate and Plateau Sub-cold Zones would be reduced.Cold Temperate Zone would probably disappear at late this century.North borderlines of temperature zones would shift northward under projected future climate change,especially in East China.Farthest shifts of the north boundaries of Plateau Temperate,Subtropical and Warm Temperate Zones would be 3.1°,5.3° and 6.6° latitude respectively.Moreover,northward shift would be more notably in northern China as future temperature increased.     

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.     

The spatio-temporal variations of frost-free period in China from 1951 to 2012

The frost-free period(FFP)first frost date(FFD) and last frost date(LFD) have been regard as the important climate variables for agricultural production. Understanding the spatio-temporal variations of the FFPFFD and LFD is beneficial to reduce the harmful impacts of climate change on agricultural production and enhance the agricultural adaptation. This study examined daily minimum temperatures for 823 national-level meteorological stationscalculated the values of FFDLFD and FFP for station-specific and region-specific from 1951 to 2012estimated the gradients of linear regression for station-specific moving averages of FFDLFD and FFPand assessed station-specific time series of FFP and detected the abrupt change. The results as follows: at both the station level and the regional levelthe FFP across China decreases with the increase of latitude from south to northand with the increase of altitude from east to west generally. At the station levelthe inter-annual fluctuations of FFDLFD and FFP in south and west agricultural regions are greater than those in north and east. At the regional levelexcluding the QT regiontemporal changes of FFP are relatively small in both the low-latitude and the high-latitude regionsbut for the mid-latitude regions. According to the linear trend gradients of the moving average values of station-specific FFDLFD and FFPFFD was delayedLFD advancedand FFP extended gradually over the 80% of China. Furthermorethe change magnitudes for FFDLFD and FFP in the north and east agricultural regions are higher than that in the southern and western. Among the 659 station-specific time series of FFP examined by the Mann-Kendall test341 stationslocated mainly in the north regionhave one identifiable and significant abrupt change. And at the 341 stations with identified abrupt changesmost(57%) abrupt changes occurred during 1991–2012followed by the periods of 1981–1990(28%)1971–1980(12%)and 1951–1970(3%). The spatio-temporal variations of FFDLFD and FFP would provide important guidance to agricultural practices.     

1910-2014年湖南省均一化气温序列构建及其变化特征（英文）

Based on the statistical method and the historical evolution of meteorological stations,the temperature time series for each station in Hunan Province during 1910–2014 are tested for their homogeneity and then corrected.The missing data caused by war and other reasons at the 8 meteorological stations which had records before 1950 is filled by interpolation using adjacent observations,and complete temperature time series since the establishment of stations are constructed.After that,according to the representative analysis of each station in different time periods,the temperature series of Hunan Province during 1910–2014 are built and their changes are analyzed.The results indicate that the annual mean temperature has a significant warming trend during 1910–2014 and the seasonal mean temperature has the largest rising amplitude in winter and spring,followed by autumn,but no significant change in summer.Temperature variation over Hunan Province has several significant warm-cold alternations and more frequent than that in whole China.Annual and seasonal mean temperatures except summer and autumn have abrupt warming changes in the recent 100 years.The wavelet analysis suggests that the annual and four seasonal mean temperatures in recent 100 years have experienced two climatic shifts from cold to warm.     

西北地区山区融雪期气候变化对径流量的影响(英文)

Water resources in the arid land of Northwest China mainly derive from snow and glacier melt water in mountainous areas. So the study on onset, cessation, length, tempera-ture and precipitation of snowmelt period is of great significance for allocating limited water resources reasonably and taking scientific water resources management measures. Using daily mean temperature and precipitation from 8 mountainous weather stations over the pe-riod 1960?2010 in the arid land of Northwest China, this paper analyzes climate change of snowmelt period and its spatial variations and explores the sensitivity of runoff to length, temperature and precipitation of snowmelt period. The results show that mean onset of snowmelt period has shifted 15.33 days earlier while mean ending date has moved 9.19 days later. Onset of snowmelt period in southern Tianshan Mountains moved 20.01 days earlier while that in northern Qilian Mountains moved only 10.16 days earlier. Mean precipitation and air temperature increased by 47.3 mm and 0.857℃ in the mountainous areas of Northwest China, respectively. The precipitation of snowmelt period increased the fastest, which is ob-served in southern Tianshan Mountains, up to 65 mm, and the precipitation and temperature in northern Kunlun Mountains increased the slowest, an increase of 25 mm and 0.617℃, respectively, while the temperature in northern Qilian Mountains increased the fastest, in-creasing by 1.05℃. The annual runoff is also sensitive to the variations of precipitation and temperature of snowmelt period, because variation of precipitation induces annual runoff change by 7.69% while change of snowmelt period temperature results in annual runoff change by 14.15%.     

Climate transformation to warm-humid and its effect on river runoff in the source region of the Yellow River

The change characteristics and trends of the regional climate in the source region of the Yellow River, and the response of runoff to climate change, are analyzed based on observational data of air temperature, precipitation, and runoff at 10 main hydrological and weather stations in the region. Our results show that a strong signal of climate shift from warm-dry to warm-humid in the western parts of northwestern China （Xinjiang） and the western Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province occurred in the late 1980s, and a same signal of climate change occurred in the mid-2000s in the source region of the Yellow River located in the eastern part of northwestern China. This climate changeover has led to a rapid increase in rainfall and stream runoff in the latter region. In most of the years since 2004 the average annual precipitation in the source region of the Yellow River has been greater than the long-term average annual value, and after 2007 the runoff measured at all of the hydrologic sections on the main channel of the Yellow River in the source region has also consistently exceeded the long-term average annual because of rainfall increase. It is difficult to determine the prospects of future climate change until additional observations and research are conducted on the rate and temporal and spatial extents of climate change in the region. Nevertheless, we predict that the climate shift from warm-dry to warm-humid in the source region of the Yellow River is very likely to be in the decadal time scale, which means a warming and rainy climate in the source region of the Yellow River will continue in the coming decades.     

气候变率影响下博茨瓦纳河流流量的时空变化

The fourth assessment report of the IPCC highlights that the global average surface temperature is projected to increase by 1.8 to 4.0℃ by the year 2100 compared to current climate. Given that climate is the most important driver of the hydrological cycle, the rise in temperature could cause changes in occurrence patterns of extreme hydrologic events like streamflow droughts. An increase in frequency and severity of these events could pose seri-ous challenges for sustainable management of water resources particular in arid regions. However, the understanding of water resources dynamics and the possible impacts of climate change on these dynamics is hindered by uncertainties in climate change models and com-plex hydrological responses of streams and catchments to climatic changes. Therefore ob-servational evidence of streamflow dynamics at the local scale could play a crucial role in addressing these uncertainties and achieving a fuller reconciliation between model-based scenarios and ground truth. This paper determines spatial and temporal changes in stream-flow volumes and their association with climatic factors based on the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test and ANOVA to determine possible changes in streamflow over the years and their relation to climatic factors. Streamflow is generally stochastic highlighting the im-portance of factoring in temporal flow variability in water resources planning. There is no clear evidence that changes in climatic variables are related to streamflow behaviour.     

1960-2015年中国绿洲胡杨生长季对全球变暖的时空响应及原因（英文）

Daily average temperature data from 48 meteorological stations in Chinese oases that are within the distribution area of Populus euphratica were analyzed to determine the spatiotemporal responses of this tree to climate change. Specifically, the start and end date as well as the number of days that comprised the growing season were analyzed with a multi-year trend line and using the Mann-Kendall mutation test, inverse distance weighted interpolation(IDW) in the software Arc GIS, a Morlet wavelet power spectrum, and correlation analysis. The results of this study show that, over the last 56 years, the start date of the P. euphratica growing season has advanced, while the end date has been postponed, and the number of days that comprise the growing season have gradually increased. The changing trend rates recovered in this analysis for these three time slices are –1.34 d/10 a, 1.33 d/10 a, and 2.66 d/10 a(α≥ 0.001), respectively. Data show that while spatial disparity is extremely significant, it is nevertheless the case that along a southwest-to-northeast transect of Chinese oases, the later the start date of the P. euphratica season, the sooner the end data and the shorter the growing season. Mutations points in start and end date, as well as for the growing season overall were observed in 2001, 1989, and 1996, respectively, and the data presented in this paper show that, in particular, the date of this end of this period is most sensitive to climate warming. Growing season cycles for P. euphratica are between 3.56 years and 7.14 years, consistent with the periodicity of El Ni?o events, while a start date cycle between 3.56 years and 4.28 years is consistent with atmospheric circulation cyclicity. The causal analysis presented in this paper shows that the Asian polar vortex area index(APVAI), the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau index(TPI), the westerly circulation index(WCI), and carbon dioxide emissions(CDE) are the main factors influencing spatiotemporal changes in the growth of P. euphratica, the effect of latitude during the growing season is more significant than altitude, and the start date of the growing season is more significantly influenced by these factors than end date. In addition, data show that the start date, end date, and length of the growing season are all significantly correlated with their average corresponding monthly temperature(corre-lation coefficients are –0.875, 0.770, and 0.897; α≥0.001). Thus, if the average temperature in March increases by 1℃, the start date of the growing season will advance by 2.21 days, while if the average temperature in October increases by the same margin then the seasonal end date will be delayed by 2.76 days. Similarly, if the average temperature between March and October increases by 1℃, the growing season will be extended by 7.78 days. The results of this study corroborate the fact that changes in the P. euphratica growing are sensitive to regional warming and are thus of considerable theoretical significance to our understanding of the responses of Chinese vegetation to climate change as well as to ecological restoration.     

Effects of urbanization on daily temperature extremes in North China简

The regional changes of daily temperature extremes in North China caused by ur- banization are studied further from observed facts and model estimates on the basis of ho- mogenized daily series of maximum and minimum temperature observations from 268 mete- orological stations, NCEP/DOE AMIP- Ⅱ reanalysis data （R-2）, and the data of simulations by regional climate model （RegCM3）. The observed facts of regional warming on long time scales are obtained by analyzing the indices of temperature extremes during two time periods of 1961-2010 and 1951-2010. For urbanization effect, the contributions to decreases in an- nual and winter diurnal temperature range （DTR） are 56.0% and 52.9%, respectively, and increases in the lowest minimum temperature （TNn） are 35.7% and 26.2% by comparison of urban and rural observations. Obtained by R-2 data with observations for contrast, on the other hand, increase in the number of annual warm nights （TN90p） contributed by urbaniza- tion is 60.9%. And observed facts of regional warming in daily temperature extremes are also reflected in the simulations, but what difference is urbanization progress at rural areas in North China would be prominent in the next few years relative to urban areas to some extent from model estimates.     

气候变化影响下西藏旅游气候舒适度变化与适应对策（英文）

Climate change is an important factor affecting the sustainable development of tourist destinations. Based on the monthly observation data of the main meteorological stations on the ground in Tibet from 1960 to 2015, this paper constructs a tourism climate index model. This index is used to quantitatively evaluate the tourism climate changes in Tibet, and investigate the impact of climate change on tourism. The results show that from 1960 to 2015, the temperature in Tibet increased by 1.35°C, and the tourism climate index changed significantly, especially in the regions of Changtang, Ngari and Kunlun Mountain. The fluctuation of temperature-humidity index, wind-chill index and index of clothing of these areas was larger than that of other regions. The changes of each index in different months are different, where spring observes larger changes while summer observes smaller changes. The tourism climate index in northwestern Tibet has increased, and the climate comfort period is expanding. In southeastern Tibet, the comfort level has declined and the comfort level in the central part has been slowly increasing. The comfort index in the southeastern part of Tibet has gradually declined, and the comfort index in central Tibet has slowly increased. According to the comprehensive assessment method including temperature and humidity index, wind-chill index, index of clothing and altitude adaptability index, the types of tourism climate index in Tibet can be divided into reduced, low-speed growth, medium-speed growth and rapid growth. Different regions should adopt alternative tourism products, strengthen energy conservation and emission reduction technology applications and green infrastructure construction, and appropriately control the scale of tourism activities so as to adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change on tourist destinations.     

1993-2017年气候变化对西藏谷物单产的定量影响

Climate change is a global environmental crisis, but there have been few studies of the effects of climate change on cereal yields on the Tibetan Plateau. We used data from meteorological stations and statistical yearbooks to assess the impacts of climate change on cereal yields in Tibet. Three types of statistical models were selected: fixed-effects model, first-difference models, and linear detrending models. We analyzed the impacts of climate change(including the minimum temperature, precipitation, growing degree days and solar radiation) on cereal yields in Tibet from 1993 to 2017 at the county, prefecture-level city, and autonomous region scales. The results showed that the sensitivity of cereal yields in Tibet to temperature(minimum temperature and growing degree days) was greater than their sensitivity to precipitation and solar radiation. The joint impacts of climate variables were positive, but the sensitivity and significance varied in different regions. The impacts of minimum temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation were positive in all cities, apart from the negative impacts of growing degree days on cereal yields in Lhasa. The impacts of climate trends on cereal yields in Tibet were positive and the results were in the range of 1.5%–4.8%. Among the three types of model, the fixed-effects model was the most robust and the linear detrending model performed better than the first-difference model. The robustness of the first-difference model decreased after adding the interaction terms between different climate variables. Our findings will help in implementing more spatially targeted agricultural adaptations to cope with the impacts of climate change on the agro-ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau.     

利用遥感数据探测气候变化对罗马尼亚西南部森林生态系统的影响(英文)

Nowadays, Southwestern Romania faces a large-scale aridization of the climate, revealed by the rise of temperatures and the decline of the amount of precipitations, with negative effects visible, among others, in the desiccation of forest vegetation. The present study means to identify the changes that occurred, quality-wise, in the past two decades(1990–2011) in forest vegetation in Southwestern Romania, and to establish the link between those changes and extant thermal stress in the region, whose particular features are high average annual and seasonal temperatures. In order to capture the evolution in time of climate aridization, a first step consisted in using climate data, the temperature and precipitation parameters from three weather stations; these parameters were analyzed both individually and as aridity indexes(De Martonne and UNEP). In order to quantify the changes in forest vegetation, NDVI indexes were used and analyzed, starting off from Landsat satellite images, acquired at three distinct moments in time, 1990, 2000 and 2011. In order to identify the link between the changes of NDVI index values and regional thermal stress, a yardstick of climate changes, statistical correlations were established between the peak values of average annual temperatures, represented in space, and negative changes in the NDVI index, as revealed by the change-detection analysis. The results obtained indicated there is an obvious(statistically significant) connection between thermal stress and the desiccation(degradation) of forest species in the analyzed area, with false acacia(Robinia Pseudoacacia) the main species to be impacted.     

未来情境下中国高温的人口暴露度变化及影响因素研究（英文）

Overall population exposure is measured by multiplying the annual average number of extremely hot days by the number of people exposed to the resultant heat. Extreme heat is also subdivided into high temperature(HT) and extremely high temperature(EHT) in cases where daily maximum temperature exceeds 35℃ and 40℃, respectively. Chinese population exposure to HT and EHT over four periods in the future(i.e., 2021–2040, 2041–2060, 2060–2081 and 2081–2100) were projected at the grid cell level in this study using daily maximum temperature based on an ensemble mean of 21 global climate models under the RCP8.5 scenario and with a population projection based on the A2 r socio-economic scenario. The relative importance of population and climate as drivers of population exposure was evaluated at different spatial scales including national and meteorological geographical divisions. Results show that, compared with population exposure seen during 1981–2010, the base period, exposure to HT in China is likely to increase by 1.3, 2.0, 3.6, and 5.9 times, respectively, over the four periods, while concomitant exposure to EHT is likely to increase by 2.0, 8.3, 24.2, and 82.7 times, respectively. Data show that population exposure to HT is likely to increase significantly in Jianghuai region, Southwest China and Jianghan region, in particular in North China, Huanghuai region, South China and Jiangnan region. Population exposure to EHT is also likely to increase significantly in Southwest China and Jianghan region, especially in North China, Huanghuai, Jiangnan, and Jianghuai regions. Results reveal that climate is the most important factor driving the level of population exposure in Huanghuai, Jianghuai, Jianghan, and Jiangnan regions, as well as in South and Southwest China, followed by the interactive effect between population and climate. Data show that the climatic factor is also most significant at the national level, followed by the interactive effect between population and climate. The rate of contribution of climate to national-level projected changes in exposure is likely to decrease gradually from ca. 70% to ca. 60%, while the rate of contribution of concurrent changes in both population and climate is likely to increase gradually from ca. 20% to ca. 40% over the four future periods in this analysis.     

Detecting climate change effects on forest ecosystems in Southwestern Romania using Landsat TM NDVI data

Nowadays, Southwestern Romania faces a large-scale aridization of the climate, revealed by the rise of temperatures and the decline of the amount of precipitations, with negative effects visible, among others, in the desiccation of forest vegetation. The present study means to identify the changes that occurred, quality-wise, in the past two decades （1990-2011） in forest vegetation in Southwestern Romania, and to establish the link between those changes and extant thermal stress in the region, whose particular features are high average annual and seasonal temperatures. In order to capture the evolution in time of cli- mate aridization, a first step consisted in using climate data, the temperature and precipitation parameters from three weather stations; these parameters were analyzed both individually and as aridity indexes （De Martonne and UNEP）. In order to quantify the changes in forest vegetation, NDVI indexes were used and analyzed, starting off from Landsat satellite images, acquired at three distinct moments in time, 1990, 2000 and 2011. In order to identify the link between the changes of NDVI index values and regional thermal stress, a yardstick of climate changes, statistical correlations were established between the peak values of average annual temperatures, represented in space, and negative changes in the NDVI index, as revealed by the change-detection analysis. The results obtained indicated there is an obvious （statistically significant） connection between thermal stress and the desiccation （degradation） of forest species in the analyzed area, with false acacia （Robinia Pseudoacacia） the main species to be impacted.     

Northward-shift of temperature zones in China’s eco-geographical study under future climate scenario

Despite the well-documented effects of global climate change on terrestrial species’ ranges, eco-geographical regions as the regional scale of ecosystems have been poorly studied especially in China with diverse climate and ecosystems. Here we analyse the shift of temperature zones in eco-geographical study over China using projected future climate scenario. Projected climate data with high resolution during 1961–2080 were simulated using regional climate model of PRECIS. The number of days with mean daily temperature above 10℃ and the mean temperature of January are usually regarded as the principal criteria to indicate temperature zones, which are sensitive to climate change. Shifts due to future climate change were calculated by comparing the latitude of grid cells for the future borderline of one temperature zone with that for baseline period (1961–1990). Results indicated that the ranges of Tropical, Subtropical, Warm Temperate and Plateau Temperate Zones would be enlarged and the ranges of Cold Temperate, Temperate and Plateau Sub-cold Zones would be reduced. Cold Temperate Zone would probably disappear at late this century. North borderlines of temperature zones would shift northward under projected future climate change, especially in East China. Farthest shifts of the north boundaries of Plateau Temperate, Subtropical and Warm Temperate Zones would be 3.1°, 5.3° and 6.6° latitude respectively. Moreover, northward shift would be more notably in northern China as future temperature increased.