Temperature and precipitation changes over the Loess Plateau between 1961 and 2011, based on high-density gauge observations

Abstract

a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oThe Loess Plateau has the most serious soil erosion in China and is the main source of sediment in the Yellow River. In this study, we systematically analyzed the changes in the mean and extreme values for temperature and precipitation over the Loess Plateau between 1961 and 2011, using a gridded dataset with high-density gauge data. Statistically significant positive trends (p b 0.05) in the mean, maximum, and minimum temperature values (TM, TX, and TN) were identified in almost all regions. Warming rates increased from the southeast to the northwest of the Loess Plateau for both TM and TN; however, for TX, the greatest warming increases were observed in the southeast region. We also found general decreases in the diurnal temperature range and the number of cold nights and cold days, and increases in the length of the growing season and the number of warm days and warm nights. Moreover, relatively intense changes occurred in the high percentile ranges for both TX and TN. The total amount of precipitation on wet days decreased over a large area of the Loess Plateau, particularly in the southeast region. The inequality in the spread of precipitation over the year (temporal inequality) increased extensively over the past fifty years in the wet region. Approximately 37.60% of the total area with a reduced amount of precipitation had concurrent decreases in both the frequency and intensity of rainfall. However, approximately 37.20% of the area with a reduced amount of precipitation had decreases in the frequency but increases in the intensity of rainfall. The proportion of days with light or moderate precipitation was decreased in the wet region which mainly located in the southwest of the Loess Plateau, but there were only minor changes in extreme precipitation events. Overall, when both temperature and precipitation changes were combined, we observed that the southwest of the Loess Plateau has undergone the largest degree of climate change. Consequently, both the ecological environment and local agriculture on the Loess Plateau will suffer increased challenges: the decline in water availability will lead to more frequent droughts, yet the risk of flood and soil erosion from extreme precipitation events will not be reduced.

Spatiotemporal Changes in Extreme Temperature and Precipitation Events in the Three‐Rivers Headwater Region, China

“…However, the regions showing the largest changes in R1mm and AP did not completely overlap. This is likely because the change in AP is affected by both the frequency of wet days (R1mm) and the SDII (Sun et al, ).…”

“…These data sets are currently used extensively in China in many research fields. For example, they have been used to study climate change (Duan & Xiao, ; Miao, Sun, et al, ; Sun et al, ), to evaluate satellite‐related precipitation products (R. C. Sun et al, ), to project future climate change (Feng et al, ; Yin et al, ), to investigate changes in the ecological environment (Tong et al, ; Zhang et al, ), and so on.…”

“…In recent decades, changes in human activities and climate have had a worldwide impact on the hydrological cycle and on regional changes in climatic extremes (Alexander et al, ; Allen & Ingram, ; Kukal & Irmak, 2016a; Liu et al, ; Min et al, ; W. Sun et al, ; Sun et al, ). The increasing number of extreme climate events (i.e., floods, droughts, rainstorms, and tropical storms) has strongly influenced regional settlements, agriculture, industry, economies, and ecological systems (Madsen et al, ; Sun et al, ). Because of continuing climate change, the frequency of meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural droughts in China is expected to increase sharply for the period 2010–2049 relative to 1971–2000 (Leng et al, ).…”

Dynamics and Attributions of Baseflow in the Semiarid Loess Plateau

“…Over the last five decades, potential evapotranspiration has increasingly trended upward on the Loess Plateau (Wu et al, ). In addition, although precipitation has not significantly declined, extreme precipitation events have significantly increased (Sun et al, ). Because the Loess Plateau typically experiences runoff being generated over the infiltration area (Liu et al, ), with the increase in extreme precipitation events, less water has infiltrated into deep soil (Yang, Wang, et al, ), leading to lower baseflow storage.…”

Joint analysis of changes in temperature and precipitation on the Loess Plateau during the period 1961–2011

“…Thus, knowledge of climate change over the Loess Plateau would be helpful for ecological restoration of the environment on the plateau. Annual precipitation on the Loess Plateau has decreased and air temperatures have increased over the last 50 years (Bi et al 2009;Miao et al 2011;Sun et al 2015;Wang et al 2012). These synchronous changes in temperature and precipitation can damage and challenge the Loess Plateau in many ways, including altering water availability, increasing soil erosion, and increasing the occurrence of droughts and floods.…”