Two robust precipitation reconstructions were conducted by combining tree-ring chronologies, dryness/wetness indices from historical documents, and climate data from the global grid. It was found that the recurrent dr...Two robust precipitation reconstructions were conducted by combining tree-ring chronologies, dryness/wetness indices from historical documents, and climate data from the global grid. It was found that the recurrent drought history of a region can help us understand the variability of precipitation. Several dry/wet periods during the past four centuries and potential cycles of precipitation variation were determined. Furthermore, the reconstructions are not only consistent well with each other in North-central China, but also in good agreement with variations of precipitation in northeastern Mongolia, the Longxi area in Gangsu Province and the Dulan area of Qinghai Province, and the snow accumulation of the Guliya glacier. These synchronous variations indicate that it is valuable to study various climate records, find common information and determine the driving force of climate change.展开更多
In areas with topographic heterogeneity, land use change is spatially variable and influenced by climate, soil properties, and topography. To better understand this variability in the high-sediment region of the Loess...In areas with topographic heterogeneity, land use change is spatially variable and influenced by climate, soil properties, and topography. To better understand this variability in the high-sediment region of the Loess Plateau in which soil loss is most severe and sediment diameter is larger than in other regions of the plateau, this study builds some indicators to identify the characteristics of land use change and then analyze the spatial variability as it is affected by climate, soil property, and topography. We build two indicators, a land use change intensity index and a vegetation change index, to characterize the intensity of land use change, and the degree of vegetation restoration, respectively. Based on a subsection mean method, the two indicators are then used to assess the spatial variability of land use change affected by climatic, edaphic, and topographic elements. The results indicate that： 1） Land use changed significantly in the period 1998-2010. The total area experiencing land use change was 42,302 km2, accounting for 22.57%of the study area. High-coverage grassland, other woodland, and forest increased significantly, while low-coverage grassland and farmland decreased in 2010 compared with 1998.2） Land use change occurred primarily west of the Yellow River, between 35 and 38 degrees north latitude. The four transformation types, including （a） low-coverage grassland to medium-coverage grassland, （b） medium-coverage grassland to high-coverage grassland, （c） farmland to other woodland, and （d） farmland to medium-coverage grassland, were the primary types of land use change, together constituting 60% of the area experiencing land use change. 3） The spatial variability of land use change was significantly affected by properties of dryness/wetness, soil conditions and slope gradient. In general, land use changed dramatically in semi-arid regions, remained relatively stable in arid regions, changed significantly in clay-rich soil, remained relatively stable in clay-poor soil, c展开更多
Time series of the dryness-wetness（DW） index of 531 yr（AD 1470-2000） at 42 stations in regions A（most of North China and the east of Northwest China） and B（the Yangtze-Huaihe River valley） in China are applied...Time series of the dryness-wetness（DW） index of 531 yr（AD 1470-2000） at 42 stations in regions A（most of North China and the east of Northwest China） and B（the Yangtze-Huaihe River valley） in China are applied to investigating the historical DW characteristics over various periods of the series with a relatively stationary average value using Bernaola-Galvan（BG） algorithm.The results indicate that region A/B underwent three drought-intensive periods（DIP;1471-1560,1571-1640,and 1920-2000/1501-1540,1631-1690,and 1911-1960） in the last 531 years.In the DIP of the last 130 years,the frequency of DW transition has increased in region A,but not obviously changed in region B in comparison with the other two historical DIPs.The dry period started in about 1920 in region A with severe drought events occurring from the late 1970s to the early 1980s.It lasted for about 50-70 yr in this century,and then a DW shift took place.The wet period in region B might maintain for the coming several decades.The variations of DW in region A are positively correlated with changes in temperature,but in region B,the correlation with temperature is weaker.It is found that the number of DW indices of various categories within a running window is an exponential function of the running window length.The dryness scale factor（DSF） is defined as the reciprocal of the characteristic value of the exponential distribution,and it has a band-like fluctuation distribution that is good for the detection of extreme drought（flood） clustering events.The results show that frequencies of the severe large-scale drought events that concurrently occurred in regions A and B were high in the late 12th century,the early 13th century,the early 17th century,and the late 20th century.This provides evidence for the existence of the time-clustering phenomena of droughts（floods）.展开更多
Based on 481-year records of historical dust storm （DS） and Dryness-Wetness Index （DWI） at 120 sites, spatial distribution characteristics of dryness-wetness （DW） in typical dust storm years （DS years） and in ...Based on 481-year records of historical dust storm （DS） and Dryness-Wetness Index （DWI） at 120 sites, spatial distribution characteristics of dryness-wetness （DW） in typical dust storm years （DS years） and in non-dust storm years （non-DS years） were derived for continental China. In DS years, most of the sites were drier than in normal years while in non-DS years wetter than normal, and the variation of DWI in DS years was larger than that in non-DS years. The relative instability and increased regional difference of atmospheric circulation in DS years might have induced more frequent DS events and dry-wet abnormality in continental China. In DS years the latitudinal （north-south） dry-wet difference was larger than that in non-DS years, that is, north China was even much drier than south China. This might be attributed to increased latitudinal differences of thermal and pressure gradients in DS years, resulting in the southward withdrawal of precipitation and increase of DS events.展开更多
Precipitation data from 86 observing Stations for the past four decades (from the first operational use to 1994) are used to study and discuss the character of annually mean distribution in Guangdong. Grades of drynes...Precipitation data from 86 observing Stations for the past four decades (from the first operational use to 1994) are used to study and discuss the character of annually mean distribution in Guangdong. Grades of dryness and wetness on a year-to-year basis are determined and preliminary features of dryness and wetness are discussed for the whole of the province and individual regions according to a 5-grade standard of division. The result has shown that there is on an average a rainfall of 1748 mm per year across the province, with four major centers of maxima (of annual rainfall over 2000 mm) at Enping, Qingyuan, Haifeng and Longmen. For the mean across the province, the years 1959. 1 961. 1973.1975, 1991 are anomalously wet and the years 1956, 1963, 1977 and 1991 are anomalously dry. of them, 1973 is the unusually wet year (with the absolute value of precipitation anomaly over twice as large as the standard deviation) and 1956 and 1963 are the usual dry years. For the occurrence frequency of unusually wetness and dryness over individual river valleys in the province, there are more years of dryness in the valleys of the Xijiang and Dongjiang Rivers. More years of wetness in that of the Jianjiang River, and only years of wetness instead of years of dryness in the valleys of Beijiang and Hanjiang Rivers.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40576035), IGCP464Chinese Offshore Investigation and Assessment (No. 908-01-ZH2)
文摘Two robust precipitation reconstructions were conducted by combining tree-ring chronologies, dryness/wetness indices from historical documents, and climate data from the global grid. It was found that the recurrent drought history of a region can help us understand the variability of precipitation. Several dry/wet periods during the past four centuries and potential cycles of precipitation variation were determined. Furthermore, the reconstructions are not only consistent well with each other in North-central China, but also in good agreement with variations of precipitation in northeastern Mongolia, the Longxi area in Gangsu Province and the Dulan area of Qinghai Province, and the snow accumulation of the Guliya glacier. These synchronous variations indicate that it is valuable to study various climate records, find common information and determine the driving force of climate change.
基金National Key Technologies R&D Program,No.2012BAB02B00Public Welfare Foundation of the Ministry of Water Resources of China,No.201101037The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
文摘In areas with topographic heterogeneity, land use change is spatially variable and influenced by climate, soil properties, and topography. To better understand this variability in the high-sediment region of the Loess Plateau in which soil loss is most severe and sediment diameter is larger than in other regions of the plateau, this study builds some indicators to identify the characteristics of land use change and then analyze the spatial variability as it is affected by climate, soil property, and topography. We build two indicators, a land use change intensity index and a vegetation change index, to characterize the intensity of land use change, and the degree of vegetation restoration, respectively. Based on a subsection mean method, the two indicators are then used to assess the spatial variability of land use change affected by climatic, edaphic, and topographic elements. The results indicate that： 1） Land use changed significantly in the period 1998-2010. The total area experiencing land use change was 42,302 km2, accounting for 22.57%of the study area. High-coverage grassland, other woodland, and forest increased significantly, while low-coverage grassland and farmland decreased in 2010 compared with 1998.2） Land use change occurred primarily west of the Yellow River, between 35 and 38 degrees north latitude. The four transformation types, including （a） low-coverage grassland to medium-coverage grassland, （b） medium-coverage grassland to high-coverage grassland, （c） farmland to other woodland, and （d） farmland to medium-coverage grassland, were the primary types of land use change, together constituting 60% of the area experiencing land use change. 3） The spatial variability of land use change was significantly affected by properties of dryness/wetness, soil conditions and slope gradient. In general, land use changed dramatically in semi-arid regions, remained relatively stable in arid regions, changed significantly in clay-rich soil, remained relatively stable in clay-poor soil, c
基金Supported by the National Sci. & Tech. Support Program of China under Grant No. 2007BAC03B01Special Scientific Research Project for Public Welfare under Grant No. GYHY201006021National Natural Science Foundation of China underGrant Nos. 40930952, 40875040, and 40705031
文摘Time series of the dryness-wetness（DW） index of 531 yr（AD 1470-2000） at 42 stations in regions A（most of North China and the east of Northwest China） and B（the Yangtze-Huaihe River valley） in China are applied to investigating the historical DW characteristics over various periods of the series with a relatively stationary average value using Bernaola-Galvan（BG） algorithm.The results indicate that region A/B underwent three drought-intensive periods（DIP;1471-1560,1571-1640,and 1920-2000/1501-1540,1631-1690,and 1911-1960） in the last 531 years.In the DIP of the last 130 years,the frequency of DW transition has increased in region A,but not obviously changed in region B in comparison with the other two historical DIPs.The dry period started in about 1920 in region A with severe drought events occurring from the late 1970s to the early 1980s.It lasted for about 50-70 yr in this century,and then a DW shift took place.The wet period in region B might maintain for the coming several decades.The variations of DW in region A are positively correlated with changes in temperature,but in region B,the correlation with temperature is weaker.It is found that the number of DW indices of various categories within a running window is an exponential function of the running window length.The dryness scale factor（DSF） is defined as the reciprocal of the characteristic value of the exponential distribution,and it has a band-like fluctuation distribution that is good for the detection of extreme drought（flood） clustering events.The results show that frequencies of the severe large-scale drought events that concurrently occurred in regions A and B were high in the late 12th century,the early 13th century,the early 17th century,and the late 20th century.This provides evidence for the existence of the time-clustering phenomena of droughts（floods）.
文摘Based on 481-year records of historical dust storm （DS） and Dryness-Wetness Index （DWI） at 120 sites, spatial distribution characteristics of dryness-wetness （DW） in typical dust storm years （DS years） and in non-dust storm years （non-DS years） were derived for continental China. In DS years, most of the sites were drier than in normal years while in non-DS years wetter than normal, and the variation of DWI in DS years was larger than that in non-DS years. The relative instability and increased regional difference of atmospheric circulation in DS years might have induced more frequent DS events and dry-wet abnormality in continental China. In DS years the latitudinal （north-south） dry-wet difference was larger than that in non-DS years, that is, north China was even much drier than south China. This might be attributed to increased latitudinal differences of thermal and pressure gradients in DS years, resulting in the southward withdrawal of precipitation and increase of DS events.
文摘Precipitation data from 86 observing Stations for the past four decades (from the first operational use to 1994) are used to study and discuss the character of annually mean distribution in Guangdong. Grades of dryness and wetness on a year-to-year basis are determined and preliminary features of dryness and wetness are discussed for the whole of the province and individual regions according to a 5-grade standard of division. The result has shown that there is on an average a rainfall of 1748 mm per year across the province, with four major centers of maxima (of annual rainfall over 2000 mm) at Enping, Qingyuan, Haifeng and Longmen. For the mean across the province, the years 1959. 1 961. 1973.1975, 1991 are anomalously wet and the years 1956, 1963, 1977 and 1991 are anomalously dry. of them, 1973 is the unusually wet year (with the absolute value of precipitation anomaly over twice as large as the standard deviation) and 1956 and 1963 are the usual dry years. For the occurrence frequency of unusually wetness and dryness over individual river valleys in the province, there are more years of dryness in the valleys of the Xijiang and Dongjiang Rivers. More years of wetness in that of the Jianjiang River, and only years of wetness instead of years of dryness in the valleys of Beijiang and Hanjiang Rivers.
