Köppen Climate Zones in China Over the Last 21,000 Years

Abstract

AbstractThis study investigates the spatiotemporal evolution of Köppen climate zones in China over the past 21,000 calendar years based on a set of transient simulations from TraCE‐21ka using version 3 of the Community Climate System Model (CCSM3). The model results reproduce the modern distribution of Köppen climate zones observed by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) TS4.03 dataset reasonably well. More than half of the national land has experienced changes in climate types, which is characterized by the warmer and drier trend in major climate types from the last glacial maximum (LGM) to the present. This evolution mainly includes the emergence and northward extension of tropical climates in far south of China, slight expansion of arid climates toward surrounding regions, northward invasion of temperate climates at the expense of cold climates, and retreat of polar climates to the higher altitudes of the central Tibetan Plateau. Temperature and precipitation have played different roles in the transformations of various Köppen climate types. Temperature has been dominant throughout the entire period, and precipitation has become increasingly important since the late Holocene. The comparison between the reconstructed vegetation, as estimated from pollen records, and simulated vegetation inferred from Köppen climate types displays consistency in the aforementioned change trends over China.