Spatiotemporal changes in temperature and precipitation over the Songhua River Basin between 1961 and 2014

Abstract

The Songhua River Basin is one of the main grain-producing areas in China, and local climate change has had a direct impact on grain production during the past several decades. This study focused on changes in mean and extreme climate conditions in the Songhua River Basin during the period 1961–2014. We founded that the precipitation decreased slightly over most of the basin; however, an increasing occurrence of extreme events was detected in the northern and eastern parts of the basin, especially for the number of very wet days and, correspondingly, how much those days contributed to total precipitation. By contrast, the mean, maximum and minimum temperature values between 1961 and 2014 showed statistically significant positive trends in almost all regions of the basin. The rate of change was greater for minimum temperature than maximum temperature, which resulted in a significant increasing trend for the number of warm nights and an overall decreasing trend in the annual mean diurnal temperature range. Generally, the magnitudes of changes in temperature were more remarkable than the magnitudes of changes in precipitation over the Songhua River Basin. If we take both precipitation and temperature changes into account, the areas sensitive to climate change during the last five decades were in the southern and central parts of the Songhua River Basin.