Abstract
Global warming, due to the enhanced greenhouse effect, is likely to have significant effect on the hydrological cycle, which would result in more evaporation, more precipitation, and uneven distribution of precipitation around the globe. Some parts of the world may see significant reduction in precipitation, or major alterations in the timing of wet and dry seasons, and increases in both floods and droughts. In China, a warming trend has been observed across the mainland region during the past 50 years, with an increasing temperature of about 0.2–0.3 °C/10 year in northern and less than 0.1 °C/10 year in southern China. To understand the characteristics of climate change, this study has conducted statistical analysis on climate parameters from 12 representative meteorological stations in southwest China karst region. The non-parametric Mann–Kendall rank statistic method and the Pettitt–Mann–Whitney change point statistics were used, respectively, for the change trend and change point analyses of daily temperature and precipitation at each station. The 5-year moving averages of 11 climate parameters showed a clear increase in the maximum and minimum annual average temperature in southwest China, however, no consistent increase for precipitation. In addition to temperature and precipitation, changes in the atmospheric pressure, wind speed, and cloud cover were also observed from this study. Changes in climate characteristics will or have altered the hydrologic cycle in the region, which would induce more frequent drought and flood, redistribution of water resources, rocky desertification, and carbon balance, and will ultimately have great impacts on the social, economic, and environmental life in the region.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Clement AC, Burgman R, Norris JR (2009) Observational and model evidence for positive low-level cloud feedback. Science 325:460
Costa-Cabral MC, Richey JE, Goteti G, Lettenmaier DP, Feldk¨otter C, Snidvongs A (2008) Landscape structure and use, climate, and water movement in the Mekong River Basin. Hydrol Process 22:1731–1746
Davidson Eric A, Janssens Ivan A (2006) Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change. Nature 440(7081):165–173
Gao C (2012) The impact of climate change on China’s crop production: a CMIP5 ensemble assessment, Agro-Geoinformatics (Agro-Geoinformatics). In 2012 First international conference on Agro-Geoinformatics, pp 1–5. doi:10.1109/Agro-Geoinformatics.2012.6311641
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. In: Solomon S et al (eds) Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 235–336
Jiang Z, Lian Y, Qin X (2013) Carbon cycle in the epikarst systems and its ecological effects in South china. Environ Earth Sci 68(1):151–158
Kaiser DP, Qian Y (2002) Decreasing trends in sunshine duration over China for 1954–1998: indication of increased haze pollution? Geophys Res Lett 29(21):2042. doi:10.1029/2002GL016057
Liu X, Chen B (2000) Climatic warming in the Tibetan Plateau during recent decades. Int J Climatol 20:1729–1742
Liu XD, Hou P (1998) Relationship between the climatic warming over the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and its surrounding areas in recent 30 years. Plateau Meteorol 17:245–249 (in Chinese)
Nijssen B, O’Donnell GM, Hamlet A, Letternmaier DP (2001) Hydrological sensitivity of global rivers to climate change. Clim Change 50:143–175
Nogues-Bravo D, Araujo MB, Errea MP, Martinez-Rica JP (2007) Exposure of global mountain systems to climate warming during the 21st century. Global Environ Chang 17:420–428
Pettitt AN (1979) A non-parametric approach to the change point problem. J R Stat Soc Ser C Star 28:126–135
Shrestha AB, Wake CP, Mayewski PA, Dibb JE (1999) Maximum temperature trends in the Himalaya and its vicinity: an analysis based on temperature records from Nepal for the period 1971–94. J Climate 12:2775–2787
Su BD, Xiao B, Zhu DM, Jiang T (2005) Trends in frequency of precipitation extremes in the Yangtze River basin, China: 1960–2003. Hydrol Sci J 50:479–492
Wang S, Zhang Z (2011) Effects of climate change on water resources in China. Climate Res 47:77–82. doi:10.3354/cr00965
Wang X, Xie ZX, Feng QH, Yang YL, Yang MQ, Lin J (2005) Response of glaciers to climate change in the source region of the Yangtze River. J Glaciol Geocryol. 27:498–502
Xu M, Chang CP, Fu C, Qi Y, Robock A, Robinson D, Zhang H (2006) Steady decline of East Asian monsoon winds, 1969–2000: evidence from direct ground measurements of wind speed. J Geophys Res 111:D24111. doi:10.1029/2006JD007337
Zhang Q, Xu CY, Becker S, Jiang T (2006) Sediment and runoff changes in the Yangtze River basin during past 50 years. J Hydrol 331:511–523
Zhang M, Ji He, Wang B, Wang S, Li S, Liu W, Ma X (2013) Extreme drought changes in Southwest China from 1960 to 2009. J Geogr Sci 23(1):3–16. doi:10.1007/s11442-013-0989-7
Acknowledgments
This research paper was partially supported by the research grant from the National Science Foundation (Grant No. 40972167 and 41272264). The location map was created by Mr. Guangpeng Liu, a Ph.D. student at College of Geography and Environmental Resources, Southwest University in Chongqing, China.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lian, Y., You, G.JY., Lin, K. et al. Characteristics of climate change in southwest China karst region and their potential environmental impacts. Environ Earth Sci 74, 937–944 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3847-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3847-8