Spatiotemporal variability of temperature trends on the southeast Tibetan Plateau, China

Abstract

ABSTRACTBased on the monthly mean temperatures recorded between 1961 and 2012 at 14 meteorological stations on the southeast Tibetan Plateau (STP), the temporal and spatial variations in mean seasonal and annual temperature trends were investigated using the Mann–Kendall test. The temperature time series on the STP are mainly characterized by increasing trends, and the rate of warming on the STP is far higher than that in other areas in China and even in other parts of the world. Statistically significant increasing trends in mean seasonal and annual temperatures were observed during the study period at the α = 0.01 level, and the increasing trend in winter was more significant than those in other seasons. The mean annual temperature increased by 0.0247 °C per year, and the mean winter temperature increased by 0.0353 °C per year. The mean temperature decreased obviously with increasing elevation, and the temperature variation due to the complex topography of the STP was more obvious than that associated with elevation. This result illustrates the important influence of complex topography on local climate change in the STP region. This study is beneficial for understanding the characteristics of local climate change on the STP in the context of global warming.