Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Impact of land surface degradation in northern China and southern Mongolia on regional climate

  • Articles
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

Clear evidence provided by the singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis to the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and precipitation data identifies that there exists a sensitive region of vegetation-climate interaction located in the transitional zone over northern China and its surrounding areas, where the vegetation cover change has the most significant influence on summer precipitation over China. Comparison of reanalysis data with station data provides a good method to assess the impacts of land use change on surface temperature, and the most obvious contribution of land use change may be to lead to notable warming over northern China in the interdecadal time scale. Based on the new statistical results, a high-resolution regional integrated environmental model system (RIEMS) is employed to investigate the effects of land surface degradation over the transitional zone and its surrounding areas (northern China and southern Mongolia) on the regional climate. Land degradation results in the decreases in precipitation over northern and southern China, and the increase in between, and increased and decreased temperature over vegetation change areas and the adjacent area to the south, respectively. Not only would it change the surface climate, but also bring the significant influence on the atmospheric circulation. Both the surface climate and circulation changes generally agree to the observed interdecadal anomalies over the last five decades. These integrated statistical and simulated results imply that land surface degradation over the transitional zone in northern China and its surrounding areas could be one of the main causes responsible for the climate anomalies over China, especially the drought over northern China.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wang, S. W., Advance in Modern Climatological Studies (in Chinese), Beijing: Meteorological Press, 2001, 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Pan, X. L., Chao, J. P., The effects of climate on development of ecosystem in oasis, Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, 2001, 18(1): 42–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Zhou, G. S., Wang, Y. H., The feedback of land use/cover change on climate, Journal of Natural Resources (in Chinese), 1999, 14(4): 318–322.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Fu, C. B., Ye, D. Z., Towards predictive understanding of the environmental change in China on decadal to centennial scales, Global Environmental Research, 1998, 1(1& 2): 83–93.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Dickinson, R. E., Kennedy, P. J., Impacts on regional climate of Amazon deforestation, Geophys. Res. Lett., 1992, 19: 1947–1950.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Zeng, N., Dickinson, R. E., Zeng, X. B., Climatic impact of Amazon deforestation: A mechanistic model study, J. Clim., 1996, 9: 859–883.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Werth, D., Avissar, R., The local and global effects of Amazon deforestation, J. Geophys. Res., 2002, 107: LBA 55.1–55.8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Charney, J. G., Dynamics of deserts and drought in the Sahel, Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 1975, 101: 193–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Xue, Y. K., Shukla, J., The influence of land surface properties on Sahel climate Part I: Desertification, J. Clim., 1993, 6: 2232–2245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Zeng, N., Neelin, J. D., Lau, W. K. -M. et al., Enhancement of interdecadal climate variability in Sahel by vegetation interaction, Science, 1999, 286: 1537–1540.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Zeng, N., Drought in the Sahel, Science, 2003, 302: 999–1000.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Huang, R. H., Xu, Y. H., Zhou, L. T., The interdecadal variation of summer precipitations in China and the drought trend in North China, Plateau Meteorology (in Chinese), 1999, 18: 465–476.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Yan, Z. W., Ji, J. J., Ye, D. Z., Northern hemispheric summer climatic jump in the 1960s, part I. Rainfall and temperature, Science in China, Series B, 1990, 33: 1092–1101.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Lu, R. Y., Linear relationship between the interdecadal and interannual variabilities of North China rainfall in rainy season, Chinese Science Bulletin, 2003, 48(10): 1040–1044.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Dai, X. G., Wang, P., Chou, J. F., Multiscale characteristics of the rainy season rainfall and interdecadal decaying of summer monsoon in North China, Chinese Science Bulletin, 2003, 48(24): 2730–2734.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Zhu, Z. D., Wang, T., The analysis on the desertification direction of Chinese land based on the research of several typical area over last 10 years, Acta Geographica Sinica (in Chinese), 1990, 45(4): 430–440.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Wang, T., Wu, W., Xue, X. et al., Spatial-temporal changes of sandy desertified land during last 5 decades in Northern China, Acta Geographica Sinica (in Chinese), 2004, 59(2): 203–212.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Zhang, J. Y., Dong, W. J., Ye, D. Z. et al., New evidence for the effects of land cover in China on summer climate, Chinese Science Bulletin, 2003, 48(4): 401–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Zhang, J. Y., Dong, W. J., Fu, C. B. et al., The influence of vegetation cover on summer precipitation in China: a statistical analysis of NDVI and climate data, Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, 2003, 20: 1002–1006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Xue, Y. K., The impact of desertification in the Mongolian and the Inner Mongolian Grassland on the regional climate, J. Clim., 1996, 9: 2173–2189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Wei, H. L., Fu, C. B., Study of the sensitivity of a regional model in response to land cover change over northern China, Hydrological Processes, 1998, 12: 2249–2265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Zheng, Y. Q., Qian, Y. F., Miao, M. Q. et al., The effects of vegetation change on regional climate I: Simulation results, Acta Meteorologica Sinica (in Chinese), 2002, 60: 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Kalnay, E., Cai, M., Impact of urbanization and land-use change on climate, Nature, 2003, 423: 528–531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Kistler, R., Kalnay, E., Collins, W. et al., The NCEP/NCAR 50-year Reanalysis: monthly means CD-ROM and documentation, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 2001, 82: 247–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Zhu, Z. D., Liu, S., Di, X. M., Sandy Desertification and Its Control in China(in Chinese), Beijing: Science Press, 1989, 1–109.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Dong, G. R., Chen, H. M., Wang, G. Y. et al., The evolution of deserts with climatic changes in China since 150 ka B.P., Science in China, Series B, 1995, 40(4): 370–382.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Willmott, C. J., Matsuura, K., Terrestrial air temperature and precipitation: monthly and annual climatologies (Version3.01). 2002, Available from http://climate.geog.udel.edu/~climate/html_pages/ download.html.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. START/TEA, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100029, Beijing, China

    Jingyong Zhang & Congbin Fu

  2. Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100039, Beijing, China

    Jingyong Zhang

  3. National Climate Center, 100081, Beijing, China

    Wenjie Dong

Authors
  1. Jingyong Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wenjie Dong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Congbin Fu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jingyong Zhang.

About this article

Cite this article

Zhang, J., Dong, W. & Fu, C. Impact of land surface degradation in northern China and southern Mongolia on regional climate. Chin.Sci.Bull. 50, 75–81 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1360/04wd0054

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1360/04wd0054

Keywords

Search

Navigation