Changes in the spatial and temporal characteristics of China’s arid region in the background of ENSO

Abstract

Arid regions are sensitive to changes in precipitation, while El Niño-Southern Oscillation strongly influences worldwide hydrometeorological processes. Temporal and spatial changes of characteristics including precipitation, annual mean temperature and area in China's arid region were analyzed, using daily precipitation and temperature data from 117 meteorological stations of 1961–2016. The results show that: (1) The arid region is getting warmer and wetter. During the past 56 years, the precipitation in the arid region have shown an increasing trend. The annual and quarterly precipitation all exist a cycle of about 4 years. There is a negative correlation between the area of the arid region and the annual mean temperature, which is significant at the 0.01 level. (2) The area of arid region has been on a downward trend since 1968, and there was a mutation in 1992. There are three main cycles of 24 years, 13 years and 5 years in the area of the arid region. During the study period, the spatial center of the arid region’s precipitation moved 0.14° to the north and 0.77° to the east. (3) The response of precipitation to ENSO is different between the eastern and the western arid region. El Niño events increased the area of China’s arid region in El Niño years and La Niña events increased the precipitation of China’s arid region in La Niña years. The response of China’s arid region to ENSO in the first half of the following year is opposite and the response in spring is the most significant. To sum up, in El Niño years the eastern arid region increased in area and precipitation, while in La Niña years the western arid region decreased in area and the eastern arid region increased in precipitation, which was related to the eastward movement of the spatial center of the precipitation.

Assessment of Spatiotemporal Patterns and the Effect of the Relationship between Meteorological Drought and Vegetation Dynamics in the Yangtze River Basin Based on Remotely Sensed Data

“…Large-scale climate patterns alter atmospheric circulation through the movement of rainfall and water vapor transport, thereby influencing regional hydrological factors, climates, and ecosystems. For example, ENSO leads to a redistribution of heat and water vapor, altering surface air currents and small-scale ocean circulation [34,35]. As a result, it exerts a considerable impact on regional temperature and precipitation patterns.…”

“…Additionally, a growing body of research suggests that large-scale climate patterns and solar activity, such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and sunspots, play crucial roles in impacting drought and vegetation growth on global and regional scales [24,31,32]. This is attributed to the significant impact of PDO and ENSO on climate elements such as temperature and precipitation, thereby influencing both regional and global climate conditions [31,[33][34][35]. Moreover, sunspot activity is closely related to solar radiant intensity and global climate change, indirectly affecting vegetation growth [36].…”

Quantitating the Summer Moisture Sources over Northwest China and Its Annual Variations in Dry and Wet years

“…Over the past ve decades, with global warming (0.13°C decade − 1 ), the temperature in the NWC has risen at a rate of 0.33°C decade − 1 and the precipitation has increased statistically by 5.5 mm decade − 1 . Consequently, the NWC has experienced a warming-wetting climate and this trend has expanded eastward across the region in the last 30 years, with the entire NWC transitioning to an essentially uniform wetting trend [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] . Although the magnitude of wetting is small, the warming and wetting of the NWC has led to the increased extreme heat and extreme precipitation events 13 .…”

Effects of Organic Fertilizer on Photosynthesis, Yield, and Quality of Pakchoi under Different Irrigation Conditions

“…Arid areas commonly experience a dearth of fresh water, often exacerbated by its over-extraction for industrial and agricultural use. This is notably evident in the extensive Southern Xinjiang province of China, where fresh water is limited and evaporation rates are high [3,4]. Such water scarcity hampers crop growth and development, diminishing photosynthetic efficiency and thereby impacting yields and quality.…”