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Changes in daily temperature and precipitation extremes in the Yellow River Basin, China

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Abstract

Spatiotemporal changes in climatic extremes in the Yellow River Basin from 1959 to 2008 were investigated on the basis of a suite of 27 climatic indices derived from daily temperature and precipitation data from 75 meteorological stations with the help of the Mann–Kendall test, linear regression method and GIS technique. Furthermore, the changes in the probability distribution of the extreme indices were examined. The results indicate: (1) The whole basin is dominated by significant increase in the frequency of warm days and warm nights, and dominated by significant decrease in the frequency of cold days and cold nights. Although trends in absolute temperature indices show less spatial coherence compared with that in the percentile-based temperature indices, overall increasing trends can be found in Max Tmax (TXx), Min Tmax (TXn), Max Tmin (TNx) and Min Tmin (TNn). (2) Although the spatial patterns and the number of stations with significant changes for threshold and duration temperature indices are also not identical, general positive trends in warm indices (i.e., summer days (SU25), tropical nights (TR20), warm spell duration indicator and growing season length) and negative trends in cold indices (i.e., frost days, ice days and cold spell duration indicator) can be found in the basin. Annual nighttime temperature has increased at a faster rate than that in daytime temperature, leading to obvious decrease in diurnal temperature range. (3) The changes in precipitation indices are much weaker and less spatially coherent compared with these of temperature indices. For all precipitation indices, only few stations are characterized by significantly change in extreme precipitation, and their spatial patterns are always characterized by irregular and insignificant positive and negative changes. However, generally, changes in precipitation extremes present drying trends, although most of the changes are insignificant. (4) Results at seasonal scale show that warming trends occur for all seasons, particularly in winter. Different from that in other three seasons, general positive trends in max 1-day precipitation (Rx1DAY) and max 5-day precipitation (Rx5DAY) are found in winter. Analysis of changes in probability distributions of indices for 1959–1983 and 1984–2008 indicate a remarkable shift toward warmer condition and a less pronounced tendency toward drier condition during the past decades. The results can provide beneficial reference to water resource and eco-environment management strategies in the Yellow River Basin for associated policymakers and stakeholders.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51009046, 50839002), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu province (BK2010519), and CSIRO Computational Sciences and Simulation Capability Platform. We thank the National Climatic Centre (NCC) of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) for providing the valuable meteorological data. Cordial thanks are extended to the Editor-in-Chief Professor George Christakos, the Associate Editor and two anonymous referees for their valuable comments which greatly improved the quality of the paper.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Weiguang Wang, Tao Yang, Shizhang Peng, Zhongbo Yu, Wanqiu Xing, Cuiping Zhao & Fengchao Sun

  2. College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Weiguang Wang, Tao Yang, Zhongbo Yu, Wanqiu Xing, Cuiping Zhao & Fengchao Sun

  3. CSIRO Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics, Private Bag 5, Wembley, WA, 6913, Australia

    Quanxi Shao

  4. Department of Geoscience, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, 89154, USA

    Zhongbo Yu

  5. CSIRO Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics, GPO Box 664, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    John Taylor

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  1. Weiguang Wang
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Wang, W., Shao, Q., Yang, T. et al. Changes in daily temperature and precipitation extremes in the Yellow River Basin, China. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 27, 401–421 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-012-0615-8

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