Changes in Climatic Factors and Extreme Climate Events in Northeast China during 1961–2010

Abstract

This study focuses on examining the characteristics of climate factors and extreme climate events in Northeast China during 1961–2010 by using daily data from 104 stations, including surface air temperature, precipitation, wind speed, sunshine duration, and snow depth. Results show that annual mean temperature increased at a significant rate of 0.35°C per decade, most notably in the Lesser Khingan Mountains and in winter. Annual rainfall had no obvious linear trend, while rainy days had a significant decreasing trend. So, the rain intensity increased. High-temperature days had a weak increasing trend, and low-temperature days and cold wave showed significant decreasing trends with rates of –3.9 d per decade and –0.64 times per decade, respectively. Frequency and spatial scope of low-temperature hazard reduced significantly. Warm days and warm nights significantly increased at 1.0 and 2.4 d per decade, while cold days and cold nights decreased significantly at –1.8 and –4.1 d per decade, respectively. The nighttime warming rate was much higher than that for daytime, indicating that nighttime warming had a greater contribution to the overall warming trend than daytime warming. The annual mean wind speed, gale days, and sunshine duration had significant decreasing trends at rates of –0.21 m s–1per decade, –4.0 d per decade and –43.3 h per decade, respectively. The snow cover onset dates postponed at a rate of 1.2 d per decade, and the snow cover end date advanced at 1.5 d per decade, which leads to shorter snow cover duration by –2.7 d per decade. Meanwhile, the maximum snow depth decreased at –0.52 cm per decade. In addition, the snow cover duration shows a higher correlation with precipitation than with temperature, which suggests that precipitation plays a more important role in maintaining snow cover duration than temperature. CitationZhao, C.-Y., Y. Wang, X.-Y. Zhou, et al., 2013: Changes in climatic factors and extreme climate events in Northeast China during 1961–2010. Adv. Clim. Change Res.,4(2), doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1248.2013.092.