Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Temporal and geographical variation in the onset of climatological spring in Northeast China

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Theoretical and Applied Climatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Indications of earlier onset of spring have been observed in behavior of diverse animal and plant species in the Northern Hemisphere in response to recent climate warming. Knowledge of changes in the spring onset is a critical requirement for understanding ecosystem adaption to climate change, especially for agricultural regions. In this study, we present a climatological approach for detecting the temporal and spatial variability in onset of spring with particular emphasis on how they vary along geographical parameters. Yearly dates for spring onset were computed for 71 climate stations in Northeast China based on daily surface air temperature records. These analyses were conducted for the two study periods (1960–2004 and 1979–2004). We also examined the boundary shifts of spring onset for three selected dates between the periods of 1960–1978 and 1979–2004. The results showed that advancement of spring onset was more pronounced for the period of 1979–2004 than for the period of 1960–2004 (4.0 vs. 2.2 days/decade). For the 22 stations where the spring advancement was statistically significant in the two periods, the mean rate of advancement was −0.6 days/decade during the period of 1960 to 1978. The trends of advancement of spring onset decreased with both increasing latitude and altitude up to 300 m above sea level, and these geographical effects were clearer during 1979–2004. Analysis of boundary shifts of three specific dates revealed that the spring onset has moved to higher latitudes for each date with an average shift of about 1° of latitude (about 110 km). Our results suggest that attempts to address how ecosystems will adapt to spring advancement associated with climate warming should consider the differences in response rates and geographical effects across the study area.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Carter TR (1998) Changes in the thermal growing season in Nordic countries during the past century and prospects for the future. Agric Food Sci Finn 7:161–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang PK (1934) The duration of four seasons in china. Acta Geographica Sinica. 01 doi:CNKI:SUN:DLXB.0.1934-01-001

  • Del Rio S, Iqbal A, Cano-Ortiz A, Herrero L, Hassand A, Penasa A (2013) Recent mean temperature trends in Pakistan and links with teleconnection patterns. Int J Climatol. doi:10.1002/joc.3423

  • Delbart N, Picard G, Le Toans T, Kergoat L, Quegan S, Woodward I, Dye D, Fedotova V (2008) Spring phenology in boreal Eurasia over a nearly century time scale. Glob Chang Biol 14(3):603–614. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01505.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dinpashoh Y, Jhajharia D, Fakheri-Fard A, Singh VP, Kahya E (2011) Trends in reference crop evapotranspiration over Iran. J Hydrol 399:422–433. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.01.021

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frich P, Alexander LV, Della-Marta P, Gleason B, Haylock M, Tank AMGK, Peterson T (2002) Observed coherent changes in climatic extremes during the second half of the twentieth century. Clim Res 19(3):193–212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2007) IPCC WGI Fourth Assessment Report. Climatic change: the physical science basis. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Isaac V, Van Wijngaarden WA (2012) Surface water vapor pressure and temperature trends in North America during 1948–2010. J Clim 25(10):3599–3609. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00003.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones PD, Briffa KR, Osborn TJ, Moberg A, Bergstrom H (2002) Relationships between circulation strength and the variability of growing-season and cold-season climate in northern and central Europe. Holocene 12(6):643–656. doi:10.1191/0959683602hl577rp

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly AE, Goulden ML (2008) Rapid shifts in plant distribution with recent climate change. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105(33):11823–11826

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Q, Zhang H, Chen J, Li W, Liu X, Jones P (2009) A mainland China homogenized historical temperature dataset of 1951–2004. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 90(8):1062–1065. doi:10.1175/2009bams2736.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Q, Dong W, Li W, Gao X, Jones P, Kennedy J, Parker D (2010) Assessment of the uncertainties in temperature change in China during the last century. Chin Sci Bull 55(19):1974–1982. doi:10.1007/s11434-010-3209-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linderholm HW, Walther A, Chen DL (2008) Twentieth-century trends in the thermal growing season in the Greater Baltic Area. Clim Chang 87(3–4):405–419. doi:10.1007/s10584-007-9327-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu BH, Henderson M, Zhang YD, Xu M (2010) Spatiotemporal change in China’s climatic growing season: 1955–2000. Clim Chang 99(1–2):93–118. doi:10.1007/s10584-009-9662-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loarie SR, Duffy PB, Hamilton H, Asner GP, Field CB, Ackerly DD (2009) The velocity of climate change. Nature 462(7276):1052–U1111. doi:10.1038/Nature08649

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mamtimin B, Meixner FX (2011) Air pollution and meteorological processes in the growing dryland city of Urumqi (Xinjiang, China). Sci Total Environ 409(7):1277–1290. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.12.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menzel A, Jakobi G, Ahas R, Scheifinger H, Estrella N (2003) Variations of the climatological growing season (1951–2000) in Germany compared with other countries. Int J Climatol 23(7):793–812. doi:10.1002/joc.915

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menzel A, Sparks TH, Estrella N, Roy DB (2006) Altered geographic and temporal variability in phenology in response to climate change. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 15(5):498–504. doi:10.1111/j.1466-822x.2006.00247.x

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller-Rushing AJ, Primack RB (2008) Global warming and flowering times in Thoreau’s concord: a community perspective. Ecology 89(2):332–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morin X, Lechowicz MJ, Augspurger C, O' Keefe J, Viner D, Chuine I (2009) Leaf phenology in 22 North American tree species during the 21st century. Glob Chang Biol 15(4):961–975. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01735.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myneni RB, Keeling CD, Tucker CJ, Asrar G, Nemani RR (1997) Increased plant growth in the northern high latitudes from 1981 to 1991. Nature 386(6626):698–702

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parmesan C (2006) Ecological and evolutionary responses to recent climate change. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 37:637–669

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parmesan C, Yohe G (2003) A globally coherent fingerprint of climate change impacts across natural systems. Nature 421(6918):37–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Post ES, Pedersen C, Wilmers CC, Forchhammer MC (2008) Phenological sequences reveal aggregate life history response to climatic warming. Ecology 89(2):363–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ren GY, Xu MZ, Chu ZY, Guo J (2005) Changes of surface air temperature in China during 1951–2004. Clim Environ Res 10:717–727

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz MD, Chen ZQ (2002) Examining the onset of spring in China. Clim Res 21(2):157–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz MD, Ahas R, Aasa A (2006) Onset of spring starting earlier across the Northern Hemisphere. Glob Chang Biol 12(2):343–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skaggs RH, Baker DG (1985) Fluctuations in the length of the growing-season in Minnesota. Clim Chang 7(4):403–414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Song YL, Linderholm HW, Chen DL, Walther A (2010) Trends of the thermal growing season in China, 1951–2007. Int J Climatol 30(1):33–43. doi:10.1002/joc.1868

    Google Scholar 

  • Vose RS, Easterling DR, Gleason B (2005) Maximum and minimum temperature trends for the globe: an update through 2004. Geophys Res Lett 32(23). doi:10.1029/2005gl024379

  • Walther A, Linderholm HW (2006) A comparison of growing season indices for the Greater Baltic Area. Int J Biometeorol 51(2):107–118. doi:10.1007/s00484-006-0048-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walther GR, Post E, Convey P, Menzel A, Parmesan C, Beebee TJC, Fromentin JM, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Bairlein F (2002) Ecological responses to recent climate change. Nature 416(6879):389–395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang XH, Piao SL, Ciais P, Li JS, Friedlingstein P, Koven C, Chen AP (2011) Spring temperature change and its implication in the change of vegetation growth in North America from 1982 to 2006. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108(4):1240–1245. doi:10.1073/pnas.1014425108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yan ZW, Xia JJ, Qian C, Zhou W (2011) Changes in seasonal cycle and extremes in China during the period 1960–2008. Adv Atmos Sci 28(2):269–283. doi:10.1007/s00376-010-0006-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng JY, Ge QS, Hao ZX, Wang WC (2006) Spring phenophases in recent decades over eastern China and its possible link to climate changes. Clim Chang 77(3–4):449–462. doi:10.1007/s10584-005-9038-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (2010CB951304), the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-EW-QN314), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (41001053). We extend gratitude to the anonymous reviewers who provided many constructive comments on improving the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 4888 Shengbei Road, Changchun, Jilin Province, 130102, China

    Haifeng Zheng, Xingyuan He, Xingyang Yu, Zhibin Ren & Dan Zhang

  2. Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0C6, Canada

    Neil B. McLaughlin

Authors
  1. Haifeng Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Neil B. McLaughlin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xingyuan He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Xingyang Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Zhibin Ren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Dan Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xingyuan He.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zheng, H., McLaughlin, N.B., He, X. et al. Temporal and geographical variation in the onset of climatological spring in Northeast China. Theor Appl Climatol 114, 605–613 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-013-0869-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-013-0869-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation