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    Climate and Environmental Change
  • Climate and Environmental Change
    JIANG Fengqing, HU Ruji, LI Zhen
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    Annual freezing and thawing index of 7 meteorological stations along the Qing-hai-Xizang Railway were calculated based on daily maximum and minimum temperature records for 1966?2004. Trends of annual freezing and thawing index were analyzed using the Mann-Kendall test and a simple linear regression method. The results show that: 1) The mean annual freezing indices range from 95 to 2300℃·d and the mean annual thawing indi-ces range from 630 to 3250℃·d. The mean annual freezing index of the 7 stations exhibited decreasing trends with decreasing rate of ?16.6– ?59.1℃·d /10a. The mean annual thawing index of these 7 stations showed increasing trends with the related decreasing rate is 19.83–45.6℃·d /10a. 2) The MK trend test indicated the significant decreasing trends (sig-nificant at < 0.05 significant level) in the annual freezing index for most stations except for Golmud. The significant increasing trends can be observed in the annual thawing index for 4 stations except Golmud and Tuotuohe. Golmud was the only station with no trends in both annual freezing and annual thawing index.

  • Climate and Environmental Change
    HAO Zhixin, ZHENG Jingyun, GE Quansheng
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    Based on the long-term precipitation series with annual time resolution in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and its four sub-regions during 1736?2000 recon-structed from the rainfall and snowfall archives of the Qing Dynasty, the precipitation cycles are analyzed by wavelet analysis and the possible climate forcings, which drive the precipita-tion changes, are explored. The results show that: the precipitation in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River has inter-annual and inter-decadal oscillations like 2?4a, quasi-22a and 70?80a. The 2?4a cycle is linked with El Ni?o events, and the precipitation is lower than normal year in the occurrence of the El Ni?o year or the next year; for the quasi-22a and the 70?80a cycles, Wolf Sun Spot Numbers and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) coincide with the two cycle signals. However, on a 70?80a time scale, the coincidence between solar activity and precipitation is identified before 1830, and strong (weak) solar activity is generally correlated to the dry (wet) periods; after 1830, the solar activity changes to 80?100a quasi-century long oscillation, and the adjusting action to the precipitation is be-coming weaker and weaker; the coincidence between PDO and precipitation is shown in the whole time series. Moreover, in recent 100 years, PDO is becoming a pace-maker of the precipitation on the 70?80a time scale.

  • Climate and Environmental Change
    NIU Dongfeng, LI Baosheng, DU Shuhuan, WEN Xiaohao, QIU Shifan, OU Xianjiao, YANG Yi
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    The components of the primary elements in the dune sands for the MGS1 subsec-tion of the Milanggouwan section in the Salawusu River valley, compared with those of mod-ern dune sands, show that they were caused by East Asian winter monsoon in the Mu Us desert during Holocene. The examined ages for the 11 layers of dune sands, based on the average sedimentary rate, are: 0 to 960, 1350–2240, 2470 to 3530, 4000 to 4180, 4290 to 4350, 4380 to 4760, 5040 to 5920, 6570 to 8270, 9020 to 9700, 9880 to 10160 and 10580 to 11080 a BP, respectively. The climatic events indicated by these dune sands are consistent with those records in the Huguangyan volcanic lake, Zoige peat bog, Hulu cave and Dunde ice core, particularly with the climatic fluctuations of the North Atlantic since 11 000 a BP. Among them, patterns from B0 to B8 correspond to the peak values of 0MD, 2D, 4D, 6D+8D+10D, 12D, 14D, 16D, 18D and 20D respectively. It might be caused by the North Atlantic ice age induced by the heat circulation, which strengthened the polar high pressure and Siberian-Mongolian high pressure and further led to the dominance of the winter mon-soon over China’s desert area.

  • Climate and Environmental Change
    ZHANG Zulu, LIU Enfeng, ZHANG Yan, XIN Liangjie
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    The south coastal plain of Laizhou Bay is one of the typical salt-water intrusion areas in China, the occurrence and development of which was closely related with the pa-laeoenvironment evolution. Systematic analyses of pollen, foraminifera and grain size com-position based on 14C and luminescence dating from two sediment cores were performed for the purpose of understanding the salt-water intrusion in the coastal plain of Laizhou Bay from the perspective of environmental evolution since late Pleistocene. It could be classified into seven evolution stages since 120 kaBP: 120–85 kaBP was a transition period from cold to warm; 85–76 kaBP was a period with warm and wet climate having swamp lakes developed in the lower reaches of the Weihe River, south coastal plain of Laizhou Bay; 76–50 kaBP was characterized by grassland vegetation and coarse sediments in terrestrial environment, which was the early stage of Dali Ice-Age; 50–24 kaBP was a period with alternate sea deposition in the south coastal plain of Laizhou Bay; 24–10 kaBP was the late stage of Dali Ice-Age with coldest period of Quaternary, the south coastal plain of Laizhou Bay was dry grassland and loess deposition environment; 10–4 kaBP was another warm and wet climate period, sea level was high and regressed at 4 kaBP; and has been the modern sedimentary environment since 4 kaBP. Among the three warm stages, including 85–76 kaBP, 50–24 kaBP and 10–4 kaBP, corresponded to late Yangkou, Guangrao and Kenli seawater transgression respec-tively. The duration of the latter one in south coastal plain of Laizhou Bay was longer than that in west coast of Bohai Sea and east coast of Laizhou Bay. The three periods of seawater transgression formed the foundation of salt-water intrusion in this area.

  • Climate and Environmental Change
    GAO Jianhua, WANG Yaping, PAN Shaoming, ZHANG Rui, LI Jun, BAI Fenglong
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    The spatial distribution patterns of total organic carbon and total nitrogen show significant correlations with currents of the East China Sea Shelf. Corresponding to distribu-tions of these currents, the study area could be divided into four different parts. Total organic carbon, total nitrogen, and organic carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in sediments show linear correlations with mean grain size, respectively, thus “grain size effect” is an important factor that influences their distributions. C/N ratios can reflect source information of organic matter to a certain degree. In contrast, nitrogen stable isotope shows different spatial distri-bution patterns with C/N and organic carbon stable isotope, according to their relationships and regional distributions. The highest contribution (up to 50%) of terrestrial organic carbon appears near the Changjiang Estuary with isolines projecting towards northeast, indicating the influence of the Changjiang dilution water. Terrestrial particulate organic matter suffers from effects of diagenesis, benthos and incessant inputting of dead organic matter of plankton, after depositing in seabed. Therefore, the contribution of terrestrial organic carbon to par-ticulate organic matter is obviously greater than that to organic matter in sediments in the same place.

  • Climate and Environmental Change
    HE Fanneng, GE Quansheng, DAI Junhu, RAO Yujuan
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    Based on historical documents, modern survey and statistics, as well as the result of predecessor studies, the trend and main process of forest dynamics are recognized. The forest area and forest coverage rates for each province of China from 1700 to 1949 are es-timated backward by every 50 years. Linking the result with modern National Forest Inventory data, the spatial-temporal dynamics of Chinese forest in recent 300 years (AD 1700–1998) is quantitatively analyzed. The study shows that in recent 300 years, the forest area in current territory of China has declined by 0.95×108 hm2 (or 9.2% of the coverage rate) in total, with a trend of decrease and recovery. Before the 1960s, there was a trend of accelerated de-scending. The forest area was reduced by 1.66×108 hm2 (or 17% of the coverage rate) in 260 years. While after the 1960s, there has been a rapid increase. The forest area increased by 0.7×108 hm2 (or 8% of the coverage rate) in 40 years. The study also shows that there is a significant spatial difference in the dynamics of forest. The amplitudes of increasing and de-creasing in western China are both smaller than the ones in eastern China. During the rapid declining period from 1700 to 1949, the most serious decrease appeared in the Northeast, the Southwest and the Southeast, where the coverage rate in most provinces dropped over 20%. In Heilongjiang Province, the coverage rate dropped by 50%. In Jilin Province, it dropped by 36%. In Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, it dropped by 42%. In Yunnan Prov-ince, it dropped by 35%. During the recovery period 1949–1998, the western provinces, mu-nicipality and autonomous regions, including Ningxia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Si-chuan–Chongqing, Yunnan, Tibet, Xinjiang and Qinghai, etc, the increase rates are all below 5%, while the eastern provinces, municipality and autonomous regions (except Heilongjiang, Hubei, Jiangsu–Shanghai) have achieved an increase over 5%, among which the Guang-dong–Hainan, Guangxi, Anhui, Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Zhejiang, and Fu-jian have an increase over 10%.

  • Climate and Environmental Change
    WANG Liwen, WEI Yaxing, NIU Zheng
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    This paper used five years (2001-2006) time series of MODIS NDVI images with a 1-km spatial resolution to produce a land cover map of Qinghai Province in China. A classi-fication approach for different land cover types with special emphasis on vegetation, espe-cially on sparse vegetation, was developed which synthesized Decision Tree Classification, Supervised Classification and Unsupervised Classification. The spatial distribution and dy-namic change of vegetation cover in Qinghai from 2001 to 2006 were analyzed based on the land cover classification map and five grade elevation belts derived from Qinghai DEM. The result shows that vegetation cover in Qinghai in recent five years has been some improved and the area of vegetation was increased from 370,047 km2 in 2001 to 374,576 km2 in 2006. Meanwhile, vegetation cover ratio was increased by 0.63%. Vegetation cover ratio in high mountain belt is the largest (67.92%) among the five grade elevation belts in Qinghai Prov-ince. The second largest vegetation cover ratio is in middle mountain belt (61.80%). Next, in the order of the decreasing vegetation cover ratio, the remaining grades are extreme high mountain belt (38.98%), low mountain belt (25.55%) and flat region belt (15.46%). The area of middle density grassland in high mountain belt is the biggest (94,003 km2), and vegetation cover ratio of dense grassland in middle mountain belt is the highest (32.62%), and the in-creased area of dense grassland in high mountain belt is the greatest (1280 km2). In recent five years the conversion from sparse grass to middle density grass in high mountain belt has been the largest vegetation cover variation and the converted area is 15931 km2.

  • Climate and Environmental Change
    LI Yuechen
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    The 13 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in northern China are located in latitude 31°–54°N and longitude 73°–136°E including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Xinjiang, where environments are fragile. In recent years, the eco-environmental problems such as vegetation destruction, desertification and soil erosion etc. become serious because of climate change and unreasonable human activities. In this paper, landscape pattern and its evolution in northern China from 1989 to 2003 was investigated by the combined use of RS and GIS based on the basic theory and method of landscape ecology. Land use/cover maps of the study area in 1989, 1999 and 2003 were produced by using 1 km monthly NOAA Ad-vanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and SPOT/VGT Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) dataset from national climate bureau of China which were geo-registered to Lambert azimuthal equal-area map projection and were used in the paper. Landscape evolution in the area over the study period was investigated by two methods: (a) the changes of various landscape metrics were analyzed using the landscape structure analysis program FRAGSTATS; (b) the transition matrix of landscape patch types was cal-culated with the help of the RS and GIS software. The results showed that from 1989 to 2003, the landscape within the study area had undertaken a complicated evolution in landscape structure and composition. The diversity index and evenness index increased during the pe-riod, which means that the landscape pattern tended to be diversified and even. The fragmentation index of grassland, forestland and water areas also increased significantly. This showed that the distribution and structure of forestland, grassland and water areas had been changed greatly during the period, especially grassland which became more and more fragmentized, and its fragmentation index increased from 19.23% to 88.72%. The transitions of the landscape types were mainly shown by the changes among forestland, grassland and farmland, and grassland changing into unable land. Over the study period, grassland and water areas had decreased remarkably, accounting for 15% and 37% from 1989 to 1999 and 24.79% and 49.25% from 1999 to 2003 respectively. The grassland and water resources play an important role in the eco-environment and economic development of the region. So, they must be protected carefully. According to the analysis, we can conclude that the eco-environment in the study area is obviously degenerated due to unreasonable human activities and climate changes and some measures should be taken to combat the environ-mental degradation.

  • Climate and Environmental Change
    LIN Xuedong, ZHANG Yili, YAO Zhijun, GONG Tongliang, WANG Hong, CHU Duo, LIU Linshan, ZHANG Fei
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    Taking the Lhasa River Basin above Lhasa hydrological station in Tibetan Plateau as a study area, the characteristics of the annual and monthly mean runoff during 1956?2003 were analyzed, based on the hydro-data of the two hydrological stations (Lhasa and Tanggya) and the meteorological data of the three meteorological stations (Damxung, Lhasa and Tanggya). The trends and the change points of runoff and climate from 1956 to 2003 were detected using the nonparametric Mann-Kendall test and Pettitt-Mann-Whitney change-point statistics. The correlations between runoff and climate change were analyzed using multiple linear regression. The major results could be summarized as follows: (1) The annual mean runoff during the last 50 years is characterized by a great fluctuation and a positive trend with two change points (around 1970 and the early 1980s), after which the runoff tended to in-crease and was increasing intensively in the last 20 years. Besides, the monthly mean runoff with a positive trend is centralized in winter half-year (November to April) and some other months (May, July and September). (2) The trends of the climate change in the study area are generally consistent with the trend of the runoff, but the leading climate factors which aroused the runoff variation are distinct. Precipitation is the dominant factor influencing the annual and monthly mean runoff in summer half year, while temperature is the primary factor in winter season.

  • Climate and Environmental Change
    WANG Lixia, REN Zhiyuan
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    Although water has the central function of the bloodstream in the biosphere espe-cially in arid or semi-arid regions such as Yan’an region in northwestern China, yet the very limited attention is paid to the role of the water-related processes in ecosystem. In this re-search, based on continuous nearly 50-year data including runoff volume, sediment discharge as well as sediment accretion from hydrographic stations, and 10-year information of water quality from pollution monitoring stations, the method for measuring in-stream flow require-ment has been put forward supported by experiential models and GIS spatial analysis. Addi-tionally, the changes of in-stream flow requirement for environment and economic develop-ment have been addressed from spatial-temporal dimensions. The results show that: (1) According to the central streams in Yan’an region, mean annual in-stream flow requirement reaches 1.0619 billion m3, and the surface water for economic exploitation is 0.2445 billion m3. (2) Mean annual in-stream flow requirement for sediment transfers in flood period occupies over 80% of the integrated volume in a year. (3) From the 1950s to 1970s, in-stream flow requirement for sediment transfers is comparatively higher, while from the 1980s to 1990s, this requirement presents a decreasing tendency.

  • Climate and Environmental Change
    LI Zongxing, HE Yuanqing, PANG Hongxi, YANG Xiaomei, JIA Wenxiong, ZHANG Ningning, WANG Xufeng, NING Baoying, YUAN Lingling, SONG Bo
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    Snowpacks samples were colleted from two glaciers: Baishui No.1 glacier and Hailuogou No.1 glacier in June, 2006. The method of sea-salt ions tracer, correlation analysis and trend analysis were used in this research in order to confirm the source of main ions, it is indicated that Na+ is mainly from marine moisture and other ions mainly originate from land dust. The non-marine source percent of Cl-, NO-3, SO2-4, K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ is 52%, 99%, 100%, 98%, 99.9% and 83%, respectively, in Hailuogou No.1 glacier, while the corresponding value in Baishui No.1 glacier is 68%, 99%, 100%, 98%, 99% and 59%. The non-marine source of ions is from dust of Central Asia arid regions carried by westerly circulation and the plateau borne-areas with Qinghai-Tibet Plateau winter monsoon in two glacial areas. How-ever, the import of local dust in glacial area has made a great contribution to ions concentra-tion in Baishui No.1 glacier, which accounts for the reason why the ions concentration in Bai-shui No.1 glacier is much higher than that of Hailuogou No.1 glacier. It is obvious that the source of each ion is different between Hailuogou No.1 glacier and Baishui No.1 glacier. There are three reasons which can explain it: firstly, the difference in the internal environment of glacial area, such as lithology, mountain-valley wind system, topographical relief and so on; secondly, the influence exerted by ions elution in snowpacks section, and ions elution in Hailuogou No.1 glacier is very strong; and thirdly, the difference caused due to varying ions transporting styles, deposition modes, chemical characteristics and post-ions-deposition process.