Climate changing characteristics of Zhangye City in Heihe River basin during 1968–2005

Abstract

At present, researches on climate change of the Heihe River basin mainly focus on the relationship between basin climate change and regional water resources, regional desertification and dynamic climatic seasons of sandstorm, but less on climate change of oasis region, where there are more intense and frequent human activities. Based on data of precipitation, temperature, strong wind and dust events frequencies obtained from the six meteorological stations of Zhangye region in Heihe River basin, the features of climate change during 1968-2005 were carefully studied. Results show that the regional temperature rise rate exceeded the average level of China. The annual precipitation changed a little, but the precipitation had a slowly increasing trend in spring and winter. Frequencies of strong wind and sandstorm days show obviously descending trends, which had a close correlation with the regional temperature rise and the precipitation increase in spring and winter. Meanwhile, further human economic activities and exploitations to the oasis in the inland valley of arid regions also affected the climate change of this region, which has a sensitive and fragile eco-environment.

Diurnal and Seasonal Variations in Carbon Dioxide Exchange in Ecosystems in the Zhangye Oasis Area, Northwest China

“…The annual mean precipitation is approximately 114.9 mm; more than 70% of this precipitation is accumulated during the growing season from June to September. The annual frost-free period lasts approximately 169 days [ 14 ].…”

Temporal variations of atmospheric water vapor δD and δ18O above an arid artificial oasis cropland in the Heihe River Basin

“…The regional temperature for 1969–2005 showed an increase of 1.24°C, which exceeded the average level of China. The increasing temperature was considered as a reflection of large‐scale climate change in the northwest China [ Li and Shi , ]. The spatial pattern of precipitation for 1955–1995 revealed an increasing trend from the northwest to the southeast of Heihe River Basin [ Ding et al ., ], a with proportion of at least 31.06% contributed by the continental cycling water [ Zhang and Wu , ].…”

Hydrological Drought and Flood Projection in the Upper Heihe River Basin Based on a Multi-GCM Ensemble and the Optimal GCM

“…Therefore, extreme states, including droughts and floods, have become one of the most concerning hydrological phenomena for research (e.g., [3][4][5][6][7]). aggravate water scarcity and challenges to food security, and may sometimes induce other natural disasters, such as sandstorms, forest fires, and insect infestations [24]. Floods are prone to cause life-threatening damage to infrastructure and property (such as houses, buildings, farmland, roads, bridges, etc.…”