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Abstract
In this study, on the basis of the temperature data collected at 612 meteorological stations in China from 1961 to 2019, cold regions were defined using three indicators: an average temperature of <−3.0 °C during the coldest month; less than five months with an average temperature of >10 °C; and an annual average temperature of ≤5 °C. Spatial interpolation, spatial superposition, a trend analysis, and a spatial similarity analysis were used to obtain the spatial distribution of the cold regions in China from 1961 to 2019. Then, the areas of the cold regions and the spatial change characteristics were analyzed. The results reveal that the average area of the cold regions in China from 1961 to 2019 was about 427.70 × 104 km2, accounting for about 44.5% of the total land area. The rate of change of the area of the cold regions from 1961 to 2019 was −14.272 × 104 km2/10 a, exhibiting a very significant decreasing trend. On the basis of the changes between 1991–2019 and 1961–1990, the area of China’s cold regions decreased by 49.32 × 104 km2. The findings of this study provide references for studying changes in the natural environment due to climate change, as well as for studying changes on a global scale.
Highlights
Cold regions are a valuable part of the earth system [1], and they are generally defined as areas with low temperatures [2] and with the presence of ice and snow for at least part of the year
Cold regions are very sensitive to climate change [5], and climate change has changed the distribution of the cold regions around the world [6,7,8,9,10]
Pointed out that the global annual average surface temperature has risen by 1.09 ◦ C in the past 100 years, that the climate warming trend in China was much higher than the global average [11,12], and that the area and spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of China’s cold regions are undergoing significant changes
Summary
Cold regions are a valuable part of the earth system [1], and they are generally defined as areas with low temperatures [2] and with the presence of ice and snow for at least part of the year. The ice and snow resources in cold regions are very rich and are very important to human production activities [3]. They are an essential and lasting factor that affects the natural and social systems on the Earth’s surface [4]. The sixth report of the IPCC pointed out that the global annual average surface temperature has risen by 1.09 ◦ C in the past 100 years, that the climate warming trend in China was much higher than the global average [11,12], and that the area and spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of China’s cold regions are undergoing significant changes. Gaining an accurate understanding of the distribution of, and variations in, cold regions has important theoretical and practical significance for engineering projects in cold regions, industrial and agricultural production, as well as for the rational development and utilization of the water, ice, and snow resources in cold regions [13,14]
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