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Arid Land Geography ›› 2021, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (2): 360-368.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000–6060.2021.02.07

• Climatology and Hydrology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Diurnal temperature variation characteristics in the downtown of Urumqi

YANG Xia1(),ZHAO Yizhou2(),CAI Mei3,ZHANG Chao1   

  1. 1. Xinjiang Meteorological Observatory, Urumqi 830002, Xinjiang, China
    2. Xinjiang Meteorological Bureau, Urumqi 830002, Xinjiang, China
    3. China Meteorological Administration Institute of Meteorological Cadre Training Xinjiang Branch, Urumqi 830002, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2019-06-05 Revised:2020-06-07 Online:2021-03-25 Published:2021-04-14
  • Contact: Yizhou ZHAO E-mail:Yangxia921@163.com;ZYZ_93@163.com

Abstract:

Cities are critical on the earth’s surface because of human activities. Cities significantly influence regional climate change and the ecological environment. Recently, with the rapid development of China’s urbanization process, the impact of urbanization on temperature change has attracted increasing attention. Urumqi is the capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. With the rapid urbanization development, the diurnal temperature change characteristics in the main urban area of Urumqi are unclear. To deeply understand the diurnal temperature characteristics in Urumqi, this study used hourly temperature observation data from the Automatic Weather Station from 2008 to 2020 to analyze the diurnal temperature variation characteristics over urban Urumqi. The results show that the maximum high temperature in the main urban area of Urumqi occurs at 14-17 o’clock, and the lowest temperature occurs at 05-08 o’clock. In general, the daily minimum temperature reaches its lowest value around sunrise, which occurs earlier in summer than in winter. In the main urban area of Urumqi, the daily minimum temperature in December and January occurs at 5:00 and 7:00 in the summer, inconsistent with the general rule of daily temperature change and different from the daily temperature change characteristics in other cities in China. The temperature shows a sharp increase but a slow decrease during the day. Analysis of the temperature change rate in different time intervals shows that the sharpest change occurs in one hour. The statistical pattern of minimum temperature occurs from 06 to 10 o’clock in spring, summer, and autumn. The statistical pattern of minimum temperature occurs at 20 o’clock in December and January, which is a special phenomenon in Urumqi, where the time at which the maximum positive temperature is more concentrated than the negative temperature. The diurnal variation of winter temperature in the main urban area of Urumqi is more complex than in the other three seasons. Forecasting winter temperature in Urumqi City is always challenging. The forecast accuracy of winter temperature in Urumqi is low, significantly affecting meteorological services. This study provides the daily temperature variation characteristics in the main urban area of Urumqi, which could help weather forecasters to deepen their understanding of the refined temperature characteristics in the main urban area of Urumqi and provide a useful reference for practical forecast business. Because this study only analyzes from the perspective of data statistics, the causes of special diurnal variation characteristics of winter temperature in the main urban area of Urumqi must be further studied using numerical simulation and other methods.

Key words: hourly temperature, diurnal variations, temperature change, Urumqi