Based on historical documents and records this paper analyzes the characteristics of frequency and distribution of major disasters that took place in the history of China. The findings show that occurrences of different types of disasters varied and spatial pattern at provincial level are significantly different as well. The results also indicate that there is a strong relationship between type of disasters and spatial distribution and that the spatial pattern of losses was not the same as that of the frequency. The reasons are: (1) the hazard-formative environments which, to a large extent, determine the spatial pattern of the disasters are significantly different; (2) the losses caused by natural disasters were closely related to the concentration of economy and population. Number of deaths was usually large in areas where agriculture, culture and business were relatively developed. The spatial pattern of disaster losses is an evitable result of uneven economic development in the history of China.

According to the meteorological observation data of 72 stations from 1960 to 2010 in the Huanghe (Yellow) River Watershed, China, the long-term variations of potential evapotranspiration, calculated in the modified Penman-Monteith model of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, were presented, as well as the meteorological causes for the decrease of potential evapotranspiration were discussed. Since 1960, temperature has risen significantly and potential evapotranspiration a decreasing trend, which indicated the existence of “Evaporation paradox” in the Huanghe River Watershed. This phenomenon was not consistent spatially or temporally with the increase of temperature, potential evapotranspiration decreased in spring, summer and winter, mainly over most parts of Shanxi and Henan, and some parts of Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, and Shaanxi. During the recent half century, the trends of temperature and potential evapotranspiration were negatively correlated at most of the stations, while precipitation and potential evapotranspiration exhibited a contrary trend. Calculated in multiple regressions, the contribution to potential evapotranspiration change of related meteorological factors was discussed, including mean pressure, maximum and minimum temperature, sunshine hours, relative humidity and average wind speed. The decrease of wind speed in the Huanghe River Watershed may be the dominating factor causing potential evapotranspiration decreasing.

The North China Plain (NCP) is the most important food grain producing area in China and has suffered from serious water shortages. To capture variation water availability, it is necessary to have an analysis of changing trends in precipitation. This study, based on daily precipitation data from 47 representative stations in NCP records passed the homogeneity test, analyzed the trend and amplitude of variation in monthly, seasonal and annual precipitation, annual maximum continuous no-rain days, annual rain days, rainfall intensity, and rainfall extremes from 1960 to 2007, using the Mann- Kendall (M-K) test and Sen’s slope estimator. It was found that monthly precipitation in winter had a significant increasing trend in most parts, while monthly precipitation in July to September showed a decreasing trend in some parts of NCP. No significant changing trend was found for the annual, dry and wet season precipitation and rainfall extremes in the majority of NCP.A significant decreasing trend was detected for the maximum no-rain duration and annual rain days in the major part of NCP. It was concluded that the changing trend of precipitation in NCP had an apparent seasonal and regional pattern, i.e., precipitation showed an obvious increasing trend in winter, but a decreasing trend in the rainy season (July to September), and the changing trend was more apparent in the northern part than in the southern and middle parts. This implies that with global warming, seasonal variation of precipitation in NCP tends to decline with an increasing of precipitation in winter season, and a decreasing in rainy season, particularly in the sub-humid northern part.

Impacts of climatic change on agriculture and adaptation are of key concern of scientific research. However, vast uncertainties exist among global climates model output, emission scenarios, scale transformation and crop model parameterization. In order to reduce these uncertainties, we integrate output results of four IPCC emission scenarios of A1FI, A2, B1 and B2, and five global climatic patterns of HadCM3, PCM, CGCM2, CSIRO2 and ECHAM4 in this study. Based on 20 databases of future climatic change scenarios from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) , the scenario data of the climatic daily median values are generated on research sites with the global mean temperature increase of 1℃(GMT+1D), 2℃(GMT+2D) and 3℃(GMT+3D). The impact of CO₂ fertilization effect on wheat biomass for GMT+1D, GMT+2D and GMT+3D in China’s wheat-producing areas is studied in the process model, CERES-Wheat and probabilistic forecasting method. The research results show the CO₂ fertilization effect can compensate reduction of wheat biomass with warming temperature in a strong compensating effect. Under the CO₂ fertilization effect, the rain-fed and irrigated wheat biomasses increase respectively, and the increment of biomass goes up with temperature rising. The rain-fed wheat biomass increase is greater than the irrigated wheat biomass. Without consideration of CO₂ fertilization effect, both irrigated and rain-fed wheat biomasses reduce, and there is a higher probability for the irrigated wheat biomass than that of the rain-fed wheat biomass.

Studying the response to warming of hydrological systems in China’s temperate glacier region is essential in order to provide information required for sustainable development. The results indicated the warming climate has had an impact on the hydrological cycle. As the glacier area subject to melting has increased and the ablation season has become longer, the contribution of meltwater to annual river discharge has increased. The earlier onset of ablation at higher elevation glaciers has resulted in the period of minimum discharge occurring earlier in the year. Seasonal runoff variations are dominated by snow and glacier melt, and an increase of meltwater has resulted in changes of the annual water cycle in the Lijiang Basin and Hailuogou Basin. The increase amplitude of runoff in the downstream region of the glacial area is much stronger than that of precipitation, resulting from the prominent increase of meltwater from glacier region in two basins. Continued observations in the glacierized basins should be undertaken in order to monitor changes, to reveal the relationships between climate, glaciers, hydrology and water supplies, and to assist in maintaining sustainable regional development.

Runoff at the three time scales (non-flooding season, flooding season and annual period) was simulated and tested from 1958 to 2005 at Tangnaihai (Yellow River Source Region: YeSR), Zhimenda (Yangtze River Source Region: YaSR) and Changdu (Lancang River Source Region: LcSR) by hydrological modeling, trend detection and comparative analysis. Also, future runoff variations from 2010 to 2039 at the three outlets were analyzed in A1B and B1 scenarios of CSIRO and NCAR climate model and the impact of climate change was tested. The results showed that the annual and non-flooding season runoff decreased significantly in YeSR, which decreased the water discharge to the midstream and downstream of the Yellow River, and intensified the water shortage in the Yellow River Basin, but the other two regions were not statistically significant in the last 48 years. Compared with the runoff in baseline (1990s), the runoff in YeSR would decrease in the following 30 years (2010-2039), especially in the non-flooding season. Thus the water shortage in the midstream and downstream of the Yellow River Basin would be serious continuously. The runoff in YaSR would increase, especially in the flooding season, thus the flood control situation would be severe. The runoff in LcSR would also be greater than the current runoff, and the annual and flooding season runoff would not change significantly, while the runoff variation in the non-flooding season is uncertain. It would increase significantly in the B1 scenario of CSIRO model but decrease significantly in B1 scenario of NCAR model. Furthermore, the most sensitive region to climate change is YaSR, followed by YeSR and LcSR.

By using the observed monthly mean temperature and humidity datasets of 14 radiosonde stations and monthly mean precipitation data of 83 surface stations from 1979 to 2008 over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), the relationship between the atmospheric water vapor (WV) and precipitation in summer and the precipitation conversion efficiency (PEC) over the TP are analyzed. The results are obtained as follows. (1) The summer WV decreases with increasing altitude, with the largest value area observed in the northeastern part of the TP, and the second largest value area in the southeastern part of the TP, while the northwestern part is the lowest value area. The summer precipitation decreases from southeast to northwest. (2) The summer WV presents two main patterns based on the EOF analysis: the whole region consistent-type and the north-south opposite-type. The north-south opposite-type of the summer WV is similar to the first EOF mode of the summer precipitation and both of their zero lines are located to the north of the Tanggula Mountains. (3) The summer precipitation is more (less) in the southern (northern) TP in the years with the distribution of deficient summer WV in the north while abundant in the south, and vice versa. (4) The PEC over the TP is between 3% and 38% and it has significant spatial difference in summer, which is obviously bigger in the southern TP than that in the northern TP.

The proxy records on typhoons in the Yangtze River Delta from 1644 to 1949AD were extracted from historical chorographies in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China Period. In reference to the basic principles for identifying historical typhoons, time series on the Yangtze River Delta over a period of 306 years were developed. The conclusions are as follows. (1) There were a total of 241 typhoons from 1644 to 1949AD. Using the historical chorographies from 1884 to 1949AD, the number of typhoons was 65, equal to 87.8% recorded by meteorological observation. The number of years with differences in typhoon activities reconstructed using two ways no more than once is 55, reaching 83.3% in the period from 1884 to 1949AD. This result means the series of historical typhoons reconstructed using historical chorographies can represent the change of typhoon activities over years. (2) The average number of typhoon activities is 0.79 times per year from 1644 to 1949AD, and they show an increasing trend. These 306 years can be divided into three periods by the average number of typhoon activities: it is low from 1644 to 1784AD, and more typhoon activities are found from 1785 to 1904AD. It is worth noting that the number of typhoon activities reaches the summit in the last period, which is 1.2 times per year from 1905 to 1949AD. (3) Before the 20th century, the number of typhoon activities in warm periods is less than the number of cold periods. However, the number of typhoon activities increased dramatically in the early 20th century. Comparing the typhoon activities with El Ni駉 events, the data show that the number of typhoon activities did not increase when El Ni駉 occurred.

Based on the collection and processing of the China national-wide monthly station observational precipitation data in 1900-2009, the data series for each station has been tested for their homogeneity with the Standard Normalized Homogeneity Test (SNHT) method and the inhomogeneous parts of the series are adjusted or corrected. Based on the data, the precipitation anomalies during 1900-2009 and the climatology normals during 1971-2000 have been transformed into the grid boxes at 5°×5° and 2°×2° resolutions respectively. And two grid form datasets are constructed by combining the normal and anomalies. After that, the missing values for the 5°×5° grid dataset are interpolated by Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) techniques. With the datasets of different resolutions, the precipitation change series during 1900-2009 over Mainland China are built, and the annual and seasonal precipitation trends for the recent 110 years are analyzed. The result indicates that the annual precipitation shows a slight dryer trend during the past 110 years, notwithstanding lack of statistical confidence. It is worth noting that after the interpolation of the missing values, the annual precipitation amounts in the early 1900s become less, which increases the changing trend of the annual precipitation in China for the whole 110 years slightly (from -7.48 mm/100a to -6.48 mm/100a).

Based on the field-survey prototype hydrology data in typical years, the effect during the running periods of different dispatch modes of the Three Gorges Reservoir on the water regimes in Dongting Lake area is comparatively analyzed. The results are shown as follows. (1) The influence periods are from 25 May to 10 June, from 1 July to 31 August, from 15 September to 31 October and from December to the next April, among which the influence of the water-supplement dispatch in the dry season is not very sensitive. (2) During the period under the pre-discharge dispatch, the runoff volume slightly increases as well as both the average water level and the highest water level rise in the usual year. While in the wet and dry years, the average increase in the runoff volume is 40.25×10⁸ m³ and the average rises of the average water level and the highest water level are both 1.06 m. (3) As for the flood-storage dispatch, the flood volume increases slightly, in the dry and wet years, the flood volume, the average water level and the highest water level averagely reduce by 444.02×10⁸ m³, 2.64 m and 1.42 m respectively. (4) Under the water-storage dispatch, the runoff volume slightly increases and the water level heightens in a sort in the usual year. And in the dry and wet years, the average decreases in the runoff volume, the average water level and the highest water levels are respectively 185.27×10⁸ m³, 3.13 m and 2.14 m. (5) During the period under the water-supplement dispatch, the runoff volume, the average water level and the highest water levels averagely decline by 337.7×10⁸ m³, 1.89 m and 2.39 m respectively in the usual and wet years. However, in the dry year, the runoff volume increases as well as the average and highest water levels slightly go up.

The concept of mass elevation effect (massenerhebungseffect, MEE) was introduced by A. de Quervain about 100 years ago to account for the observed tendency for temperature-related parameters such as tree line and snowline to occur at higher elevations in the central Alps than on their outer margins. It also has been widely observed in other areas of the world, but there have not been significant, let alone quantitative, researches on this phenomenon. Especially, it has been usually completely neglected in developing fitting models of timberline elevation, with only longitude or latitude considered as impacting factors. This paper tries to quantify the contribution of MEE to timberline elevation. Considering that the more extensive the land mass and especially the higher the mountain base in the interior of land mass, the greater the mass elevation effect, this paper takes mountain base elevation (MBE) as the magnitude of MEE. We collect 157 data points of timberline elevation, and use their latitude, longitude and MBE as independent variables to build a multiple linear regression equation for timberline elevation in the southeastern Eurasian continent. The results turn out that the contribution of latitude, longitude and MBE to timberline altitude reach 25.11%, 29.43%, and 45.46%, respectively. North of northern latitude 32°, the three factors’ contribution amount to 48.50%, 24.04%, and 27.46%, respectively; to the south, their contribution is 13.01%, 48.33%, and 38.66%, respectively. This means that MBE, serving as a proxy indicator of MEE, is a significant factor determining the elevation of alpine timberline. Compared with other factors, it is more stable and independent in affecting timberline elevation. Of course, the magnitude of the actual MEE is certainly determined by other factors, including mountain area and height, the distance to the edge of a land mass, the structures of the mountains nearby. These factors need to be included in the study of MEE quantification in the future. This paper could help build up a high-accuracy and multi-scale elevation model for alpine timberline and even other altitudinal belts.

The aim of this work is the determination of regional-scale rainfall thresholds for the triggering of landslides in the Tuscany Region (Italy). The critical rainfall events related to the occurrence of 593 past landslides were characterized in terms of duration (D) and intensity (I). I and D values were plotted in a log-log diagram and a lower boundary was clearly noticeable: it was interpreted as a threshold representing the rainfall conditions associated to landsliding. That was also confirmed by a comparison with many literature thresholds, but at the same time it was clear that a similar threshold would be affected by a too large approximation to be effectively used for a regional warning system. Therefore, further analyses were performed differentiating the events on the basis of seasonality, magnitude, location, land use and lithology. None of these criteria led to discriminate among all the events different groups to be characterized by a specific and more effective threshold. This outcome could be interpreted as the demonstration that at regional scale the best results are obtained by the simplest approach, in our case an empirical black box model which accounts only for two rainfall parameters (I and D). So a set of thresholds could be conveniently defined using a statistical approach: four thresholds corresponding to four severity levels were defined by means of the prediction interval technique and we developed a prototype warning system based on rainfall recordings or weather forecasts.

Based on the precipitation and temperature data of the 12 meteorological stations in the “Three-River Headwaters” region and the observed runoff data of Zhimenda in the headwater sub-region of the Yangtze River, Tangnaihai in the headwater sub-region of the Yellow River and Changdu in the headwater sub-region of the Lancang River during the period 1965-2004, this paper analyses the trends of precipitation, temperature, runoff depth and carries out significance tests by means of Mann-Kendall-Sneyers sequential trend test. Makkink model is applied to calculate the potential evaporation. The runoff model driven by precipitation and potential evaporation is developed and the influence on runoff by climate change is simulated under different scenarios. Results show that during the period 1965-2004 the temperature of the “Three-River Headwaters” region is increasing, the runoff of the three hydrological stations is decreasing and both of them had abrupt changes in 1994, while no significant trend changes happen to the precipitation. The runoff model suggests that the precipitation has a positive effect on the runoff depth, while the potential evaporation plays a negative role. The influence of the potential evaporation on the runoff depth of the Lancang River is found to be the significant in the three rivers; and that of the Yellow River is the least. The result of the scenarios analysis indicates that although the precipitation and the potential evaporation have positive and negative effects on runoff relatively, fluctuated characteristics of individual effect on the runoff depth in specific situations are represented.

The source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers are important water conservation areas of China. In recent years, ecological deterioration trend of the source regions caused by global climate change and unreasonable resource development increased gradually. In this paper, the spatial distribution and dynamic change of vegetation cover in the source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers are analyzed in recent 10 years based on 1-km resolution multi-temporal SPOTVGT-DN data from 1998 to 2007. Meanwhile, the correlation relationships between air temperature, precipitation, shallow ground temperature and NDVI, which is 3×3 pixel at the center of Wudaoliang, Tuotuohe, Qumalai, Maduo, and Dari meteorological stations were analyzed. The results show that the NDVI values in these two source regions are increasing in recent 10 years. Spatial distribution of NDVI which was consistent with hydrothermal condition decreased from southeast to northwest of the source regions. NDVI with a value over 0.54 was mainly distributed in the southeastern source region of the Yellow River, and most NDVI values in the northwestern source region of the Yangtze River were less than 0.22. Spatial changing trend of NDVI has great difference and most parts in the source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers witnessed indistinct change. The regions with marked increasing trend were mainly distributed on the south side of the Tongtian River, some part of Keqianqu, Tongtian, Chumaer, and Tuotuo rivers in the source region of the Yangtze River and Xingsuhai, and southern Dari county in the source region of the Yellow River. The regions with very marked increasing tendency were mainly distributed on the south side of Tongtian Rriver and sporadically distributed in hinterland of the source region of the Yangtze River. The north side of Tangula Range in the source region of the Yangtze River and Dari and Maduo counties in the source region of the Yellow River were areas in which NDVI changed with marked decreasing tendency. The NDVI change was positively correlated with average temperature, precipitation and shallow ground temperature. Shallow ground temperature had the greatest effect on NDVI change, and the second greatest factor influencing NDVI was average temperature. The correlation between NDVI and shallow ground temperature in the source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers increased significantly with the depth of soil layer.

Since the implementation of the reform and opening up policy in China in the late 1970s, some meteorological stations ‘entered’ cities passively due to urban expansion. Changes in the surface and built environment around the stations have influenced observations of air temperature. When the observational data from urban stations are applied in the interpolation of national or regional scale air temperature dataset, they could lead to overestimation of regional air temperature and inaccurate assessment of warming. In this study, the underlying surface surrounding 756 meteorological stations across China was identified based on remote sensing images over a number of time intervals to distinguish the rural stations that ’entered’ into cities. Then, after removing the observational data from these stations which have been influenced by urban expansion, a dataset of background air temperatures was generated by interpolating the observational data from the remaining rural stations. The mean urban heat island effect intensity since 1970 was estimated by comparing the original observational records from urban stations with the background air temperature interpolated. The result shows that urban heat island effect does occur due to urban expansion, with a higher intensity in winter than in other seasons. Then the overestimation of regional air temperature is evaluated by comparing the two kinds of grid datasets of air temperature which are respectively interpolated by all stations’ and rural stations’ observational data. Spatially, the overestimation is relatively higher in eastern China than in the central part of China; however, both areas exhibit a much higher effect than is observed in western China. We concluded that in the last 40 years the mean temperature in China increased by about 1.58℃, of which about 0.01℃ was attributed to urban expansion, with a contribution of up to 0.09℃ in the core areas from the overestimation of air temperature.

Temperature and precipitation time series datasets from 1961 to 2005 at 65 meteorological stations were used to reveal the spatial and temporal trends of climate change in Xinjiang, China. Annual and seasonal mean air temperature and total precipitation were analyzed using Mann-Kendall (MK) test, inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation, and R/S methods. The results indicate that: (1) both temperature and precipitation increased in the past 45 years, but the increase in temperature is more obvious than that of precipitation; (2) for temperature increase, the higher the latitude and the higher the elevation the faster the increase, though the latitude has greater influence on the increase. Northern Xinjiang shows a faster warming than southern Xinjiang, especially in summer; (3) increase of precipitation occurs mainly in winter in northern Xinjiang and in summer in southern Xinjiang. Ili, which has the most precipitation in Xinjiang, shows a weak increase of precipitation; (4) although both temperature and precipitation increased in general, the increase is different inside Xinjiang; (5) Hurst index (H) analysis indicates that climate change will continue the current trends.

Based on the drought/flood grades of 90 meterological stations over eastern China and summer average sea-level pressure (SLP) during 1850-2008 and BPCCA statistical methods, the coupling relationship between the drought/flood grades and the East Asian summer SLP is analyzed. The East Asian summer monsoon index which is closely related with interdecadal variation of drought/flood distribution over eastern China is defined by using the key areas of SLP. The impact of the interdecadal variation of the East Asian summer monsoon on the distribution of drought/flood over eastern China in the last 159 years is researched. The results show that there are four typical drought and flood spatial distribution patterns in eastern China, i.e. the distribution of drought/flood in southern China is contrary to the other regions, the distribution of drought/flood along the Huanghe River-Huaihe River Valley is contrary to the Yangtze River Valley and regions south of it, the distribution of drought/flood along the Yangtze River Valley and Huaihe River Valley is contrary to the other regions, the distribution of drought/flood in eastern China is contrary to the western. The main distribution pattern of SLP in summer is that the strength of SLP is opposite in Asian continent and West Pacific. It has close relationship between the interdecadal variation of drought/flood distribution patterns over eastern China and the interdecadal variation of the East Asian summer monsoon which was defined in this paper, but the correlation is not stable and it has a significant difference in changes of interdecadal phase. When the East Asian summer monsoon was stronger (weaker), regions north of the Yangtze River Valley was more susceptible to drought (flood), the Yangtze River Valley and regions south of it were more susceptible to flood (drought) before the 1920s; when the East Asian summer monsoon was stronger (weaker), the regions north of the Yangtze River Valley was prone to flood (drought), the Yangtze River Valley and regions south of it were prone to drought (flood) after the 1920s. It is indicated that by using the data of the longer period could get much richer results than by using the data of the last 50-60 years. The differences in the interdecadal phase between the East Asian summer monsoon and the drought/flood distributions in eastern China may be associated with the nonlinear feedback, which is the East Asian summer monsoon for the extrinsic forcing of solar activity.

Despite the observed increase in global temperature, observed pan evaporation in many regions has been decreasing over the past 50 years, which is known as the "pan evaporation paradox". The "pan evaporation paradox" also exists in the Tibetan Plateau, where pan evaporation has decreased by 3.06 mm a^-2 (millimeter per annum). It is necessary to explain the mechanisms behind the observed decline in pan evaporation because the Tibetan Plateau strongly influences climatic and environmental changes in China, Asia and even in the Northern Hemisphere. In this paper, a derivation based approach has been used to quantitatively assess the contribution rate of climate factors to the observed pan evaporation trend across the Tibetan Plateau. The results showed that, provided the other factors remain constant, the increasing temperature should have led to a 2.73 mm a^-2 increase in pan evaporation annually, while change in wind speed, vapor pressure and solar radiation should have led to a decrease in pan evaporation by 2.81 mm a^-2, 1.96 mm a^-2 and 1.11 mm a^-2 respectively from 1970 to 2005. The combined effects of the four climate variables have resulted in a 3.15 mm a^-2 decrease in pan evaporation, which is close to the observed pan evaporation trend with a relative error of 2.94%. A decrease in wind speed was the dominant factor for the decreasing pan evaporation, followed by an increasing vapor pressure and decreasing solar radiation, all of which offset the effect of increasing temperature across the Tibetan Plateau.

Evapotranspiration is one of the key components of hydrological processes. Assessing the impact of climate factors on evapotranspiration is helpful in understanding the impact of climate change on hydrological processes. In this paper, based on the daily meteorological data from 1960 to 2007 within and around the Aksu River Basin, reference evapotranspiration (RET) was estimated with the FAO Penman-Monteith method. The temporal and spatial variations of RET were analyzed by using ARCGIS and Mann-Kendall method. Multiple Regression Analysis was employed to attribute the effects of the variations of air temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, vapour pressure and wind speed on RET. The results showed that average annual RET in the eastern plain area of the Aksu River Basin was about 1100 mm, which was nearly twice as much as that in the western mountainous area. The trend of annual RET had significant spatial variability. Annual RET was reduced significantly in the southeastern oasis area and southwestern plain area and increased slightly in the mountain areas. The amplitude of the change of RET reached the highest in summer, contributing most of the annual change of RET. Except in some high elevation areas where relative humidity predominated the change of the RET, the variations of wind velocity predominated the changes of RET almost throughout the basin. Taking Kuqa and Ulugqat stations as an example, the variations of wind velocity accounted for more than 50% of the changes of RET.

Based on 1961-2005 observed winter precipitation data in Northeast China, the temporal and spatial variations of snow concentration degree (SCD) and snow concentration period (SCP), together with the circulation characteristics when there is a higher SCD, are computed and analyzed. Results show that SCD in Northeast China presents a yearly rising tendency and SCP decreases obviously. In terms of decadal variation, there is a 12-year periodic variation in PCP, and since the mid-1970s there has been an 8-year short periodic variation. As to spatial variation, SCD in winter of Northeast China has increased gradually from the eastern part to the western, and the minimum value of SCD occurs in the east of Jilin Province, while the high value center is observed in the central part of the province. For the whole Northeast China, the variation tendencies are consistent in the eastern and central parts, where SCD presents a rising tendency and SCP shows a decreasing tendency. SCD in the southwestern and northern parts has a slight rising tendency, with SCD in the southwestern part having the slightest increasing tendency, and SCP in the northern part showing the slightest decreasing tendency. When a high SCD value is observed, the whole region is controlled by the East Asian deep trough at 500 hPa, and the trough becomes deeper in the western part, while a high pressure, which is easily formed and intensified in the eastern part, makes the East Asian deep trough move eastward slowly. Upper-level jet stream and low-level jet stream co-exist, and the former is stronger and takes more of a southwestward position than the latter. The high value zone of water vapor transport over the Pacific is intensified obviously, and the extent also increases. Northeast China is influenced by the water vapor transported to the northwest along the north of the high value center.

Trends in pan evaporation are widely relevant to the hydrological community as indicators of hydrological and climate change. Pan evaporation has been decreasing in the past few decades over many large areas with differing climates globally. This study analyzes pan evaporation data from 671 stations in China over the past 50 years in order to reveal the trends of it and the corresponding trend attribution. Mann-Kendall test shows a significant declining trend in pan evaporation for most stations, with an average decrease of 17.2 mm/10a in China as a whole, the rate of decline was the steepest in the humid region (29.7 mm/10a), and was 17.6 mm/10a and 5.5 mm/10a in the semi-humid/semi-arid region and arid region, respectively. Complete correlation coefficients of pan evaporation with 7 climate factors were computed, and decreases in diurnal temperature range (DTR), SD (sunshine duration) and wind speed were found to be the main attributing factors in the pan evaporation declines. Decrease in DTR and SD may relate to the increase of clouds and aerosol as well as the other pollutants, and decrease in wind speed to weakening of the Asian winter and summer monsoons under global climate warming.

Solar radiation is an important driving force for the formation and evolution of climate system. Analysis of change in solar radiation is helpful in understanding mechanism of climate change. In this study, the temporal and spatial variations of solar radiation and the cause of the change in solar radiation have been analyzed based on meteorological data from 46 national meteorological stations and aerosol index data from TOMS over the Haihe River Basin and surrounding areas. The results have shown that solar radiation and direct radiation significantly decreased, while scattered radiation increased during the period 1957–2008. Spatially, the decreasing trend of solar radiation was more and more significant from low population density areas to high population density areas. The spatial distribution of increase in aerosol index is consistent with that of decrease in solar radiation. The increase in aerosols resulting from human activities was an important reason for the decrease in solar radiation.

Using the daily data of temperature from China Meteorological Administration and the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis from 1960 to 2005, we have analyzed the relationships between the summertime high/low temperature events in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (MLRYR) and the related circulation anomalies in the Eastern Hemisphere. Our results have demonstrated that a significantly increasing trend is observed in daily minimum temperature in the past 50 years. And in some regions in the Northern Hemisphere, the opposite scenarios are observed in circulation anomalies in lower and upper parts of the troposphere in the years when the temperatures are higher than normal, as compared to those in the years when the temperatures are lower than normal in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (MLRYR). Additionally, the anomalous circulation structure in vertical direction in both the high and lower temperature years are barotropic. It is found that the emergence and maintenance of the aforementioned anomalous circulations are related to three kinds of wave train teleconnection patterns. Further more, influences of the long wave surface radiation on the air temperature are stronger in the nighttime than that in the daytime. While both the maximum and minimum temperatures have negative relationships with the sensible heat flux but positive relationships with the latent heat flux. To some extent, the anomalous dynamic heating (cooling) caused by the vertical thermal advection as well as the diabatic heating (cooling) caused by diabatic processes can explain the formation of the high (low) temperature events in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (MLRYR) in boreal summer.

The correlations of the δ¹⁸O_max in the shallow ice core from the Guliya ice cap on the Tibetan Plateau with the global sea surface temperatures (SST) and height at the 500 hPa over the Northern Hemisphere were analyzed. The correlated regions on oceans that have a significant influence on the δ¹⁸O_max in the Guliya ice core are all located in ocean currents, or convergent regions of currents. They are the eastern Equatorial Pacific, the Northern Pacific Current, the Hot Pool in the eastern Indian Ocean, the Mozambique Current, the Northern Atlantic Current, the Canary Current and the Atlantic Equatorial Current. The δ¹⁸O_max in the Guliya ice core has negative correlations with the SST located in the lower latitudes, and positive correlations with the SST in the middle latitudes. The correlated areas at the 500 hPa that have a great impact on the δ¹⁸O_max are located in the subtropical highs over the mid-low-latitude oceans and the long-wave trough area over Balkhash Lake, where there are marked negative correlations between the heights in those areas and the δ¹⁸O_max. The influencing mechanism is displayed by the diversity of the vapor origins transported to the Guliya region. The strengths of the European ridge and the ridge over Baikal Lake have notable positive correlations with the δ¹⁸O_max. The two systems indirectly influence the vapor transportation towards the Guliya region by the adjustment of long-wave trough and ridge.

Based on the synthetic researches of multi-index geologic records of Niya section, which are of high resolution in southern margin of the Tarim Basin, together with other geologic records in southern Xinjiang, this paper has reconstructed the history of paleoclimatic changes in this region since about 4.00 ka BP. During the last 4.00 ka, the region of southern Xinjiang has experienced alternations of relative cold-wet and relative warm-dry periods. Three remarkable cold-wet periods (4.00-3.45 ka BP., 2.50-1.90 ka BP., ca.1.40-1.00 ka BP.) and three warm-dry periods (3.45-2.50 ka BP., 1.90-1.40 ka BP., 1.00 ka BP.-present) are identified. It is shown that human activities have an intimate relation with the evolution of paleoclimate in southern Xinjiang.

Five pollen zones are identified in Yangmu peatland of Mishan region located at 45^o34’N, 132^o23’E through sporo-pollen analysis. The changing process of paleovegetation and paleoclimate was obtained. Warm-inclined broad-leaved forest predominated in the environment of warm climate with a little dry 3400 yr BP. Deciduous broad-leaved and coniferous mixed forests predominated, in which Pinus, Picea and Abies were main species, together with wet meadow in the environment of cool and humid climate during 3400-1940 yr BP. Deciduous broad-leaved and coniferous mixed forests predominated in the dry and warm climate environment 1940-1090 yr BP. Broad-leaved forest was predominant, and the climate was warm and humid 1090-545 yr BP. Marsh meadow predominated when the climate changed to cool and dry 545 yr BP. The composition of the upper part of the 143-125 cm of the peat profile presented the cold period in the early Christian era through mutual identification between the records of historical material such as spores and pollens, susceptibility, organic matter and archaeological studies. The composition of the parts of 125-85 cm and 85-38 cm presented the warm climate in the Northern and Southern Dynasty and Sui and Tang dynasties. Since 3400 yr BP because of the frequent human activities in Mishan region, the amount of cultural relics in the Sui and Tang dynasties increased, which indicated that the ancients took much more woods from the forests in the warm climate environment.

The palaeo-mobile dune sands and fluvio-lacustrine facies with palaeosols in Milanggouwan stratigraphic section of the Salawusu River valley situated at the southeast of the Mu Us Desert experienced abundant remarkable alternative changes of coarse and fine rhythms in grainsize since 150 ka BP, and the grain-size parameters — Mz,σ, Sk, Kg and SC/D also respond to the situation of multi-fluctuational alternations between peak and valley values. Simultaneity the grainsize eigenvalues — Φ5, F16, Φ25, Φ50, Φ75, Φ84 and Φ95 are respondingly manifested as greatly cadent jumpiness. Hereby, the Milanggouwan section can be divided into 27 grain-size coarse and fine sedimentary cycles, which can be regarded as a real and integreted record of climate-geological process of desert vicissitude resulted from the alternative evolvement of the ancient winter and summer monsoons of East Asia since 150 ka BP.