CollectHomepage AdvertisementContact usMessage

Arid Land Geography ›› 2020, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (4): 899-908.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2020.04.05

• Climatology and Hydrology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Spatial and temporal response differences to global warming hiatus of the thermophilic crops climate growth period in oases of China

SI Wen-yang, ZHANG Ming-jun, LIU Pu-xing   

  1. College of Geography and Environmental Science,Northwest Normal University,Lanzhou 730070,Gansu,China
  • Received:2019-05-22 Revised:2019-09-05 Online:2020-07-25 Published:2020-11-18

Abstract: The global warming hiatus that occurred between 1998 and 2012 has attracted considerable attention;however,changes in the plant growth periods in response to this hiatus are still unclear. Oases located in China between 32°-44°N and 70°-110°E are characterized by temperate continental climates and fragile ecological environments,which are sensitive to climate change. We considered the daily mean temperature data collected by 67 surface meteorological stations distributed over Chinese oases covered with thermophilic crops between 1960 and 2016. By employing the linear trend,the inverse distance weighted(IDW),the Morlet wavelet,and the Mann-Kendall methods,we analyzed the response of thermophilic crops(in terms of growth period) to the global warming hiatus. The results showed that the trend rates of the thermophilic crops growth periods in the Chinese oases between 1998 and 2012 were -2.15 d·(10 a)-1,2.76 d·(10 a) -1,and 4.91 d·(10 a)-1,respectively. Compared with 1960-1998,the beginning day of the growth period between 1998 and 2012 occurred earlier,the ending day occurred later,and the duration was longer. No overall responses to the global warming hiatus were observed. In terms of spatial change,the Qaidam Oasis showed the strongest response to the global warming hiatus. Changes in the beginning day,ending day,and duration of the growth period of thermophilic crops occurred in 2008,2001,and 2006,respectively. However,after these changes,the climate growth period of thermophilic crops did not respond anymore to the global warming hiatus. The Morlet wavelet analysis showed that the studied time interval was dominated by short periods(2.4-3.8 a),which are consistent with those of atmospheric circulation(2-4 a) and El Niño events(2-7 a). This indicates that the growth period of thermophilic crops was mainly affected by these last two factors. Overall,our findings showed that the growth period of thermophilic crops did not respond to the global warming hiatus. These results provide a scientific basis for understanding regional responses to this global event.

Key words: thermophilic crops, global warming hiatus, space-time difference, oases in China