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A remarkable climate warming hiatus over Northeast China since 1998

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Abstract

Characteristics and causes of global warming hiatus (GWH) phenomenon have received much attention in recent years. Monthly mean data of land surface air maximum temperature (Tmax), minimum temperature (Tmin), and mean temperature (Tmean) of 118 national stations since 1951 in Northeast China are used in this paper to analyze the changes of land surface air temperature in recent 64 years with an emphasis on the GWH period. The results show that (1) from 1951 to 2014, the warming trends of Tmax, Tmin, and Tmean are 0.20, 0.42, and 0.34 °C/decade respectively for the whole area, with the warming rate of Tmin about two times of Tmax, and the upward trend of Tmean obviously higher than mainland China and global averages; (2) in the period 1998–2014, the annual mean temperature consistently exhibits a cooling phenomenon in Northeast China, and the trends of Tmax, Tmin, and Tmean are −0.36, −0.14, and −0.28 °C/decade respectively; (3) in the GWH period, seasonal mean cooling mainly occurs in northern winter (DJF) and spring (MAM), but northern summer (JJA) and autumn (SON) still experience a warming, implying that the annual mean temperature decrease is controlled by the remarkable cooling of winter and spring; (4) compared to the global and mainland China averages, the hiatus phenomenon is more evident in Northeast China, and the cooling trends are more obvious in the cold season; (5) the Northeast China cooling trend occurs under the circulation background of the negative phase Arctic Oscillation (AO), and it is also closely related to strengthening of the Siberia High (SH) and the East Asian Trough (EAT), and the stronger East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) over the GWH period.

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Acknowledgements

This study is financed by the China Natural Science Foundation (CNSF) (Fund No: 41575003) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST) (Fund No: GYHY201206012). The authors also thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Atmospheric Science, Nanjing University of Information Science &Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Xiubao Sun

  2. Department of Atmospheric Science, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Xiubao Sun, Guoyu Ren, Xiaoying Xue & Panfeng Zhang

  3. Laboratory for Climate Studies, National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, 100081, China

    Xiubao Sun, Guoyu Ren & Yuyu Ren

  4. Liaoning Meteorological Bureau, Shenyang, 110001, China

    Yihe Fang

  5. Heilongjiang Meteorological Bureau, Haerbin, 150001, China

    Yulian Liu

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  1. Xiubao Sun
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Sun, X., Ren, G., Ren, Y. et al. A remarkable climate warming hiatus over Northeast China since 1998. Theor Appl Climatol 133, 579–594 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-017-2205-7

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