Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Reassessment of urbanization effect on surface air temperature trends at an urban station of North China

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Based on a homogenized data set of monthly mean temperature, minimum temperature, and maximum temperature at Shijiazhuang City Meteorological Station (Shijiazhuang station) and four rural meteorological stations selected applying a more sophisticated methodology, we reanalyzed the urbanization effects on annual, seasonal, and monthly mean surface air temperature (SAT) trends for updated time period 1960–2012 at the typical urban station in North China. The results showed that (1) urbanization effects on the long-term trends of annual mean SAT, minimum SAT, and diurnal temperature range (DTR) in the last 53 years reached 0.25, 0.47, and − 0.50 °C/decade, respectively, all statistically significant at the 0.001 confidence level, with the contributions from urbanization effects to the overall long-term trends reaching 67.8, 78.6, and 100%, respectively; (2) the urbanization effects on the trends of seasonal mean SAT, minimum SAT, and DTR were also large and statistically highly significant. Except for November and December, the urbanization effects on monthly mean SAT, minimum SAT, and DTR were also all statistically significant at the 0.05 confidence level; and (3) the annual, seasonal, and monthly mean maximum SAT series at the urban station registered a generally weaker and non-significant urbanization effect. The updated analysis evidenced that our previous work for this same urban station had underestimated the urbanization effect and its contribution to the overall changes in the SAT series. Many similar urban stations were being included in the current national and regional SAT data sets, and the results of this paper further indicated the importance and urgency for paying more attention to the urbanization bias in the monitoring and detection of global and regional SAT change based on the data sets.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Balling RC, Idso SB (1989) Historical temperature trends in the United States and the effect of urban population growth. J Geophys Res 94:3359–3363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bayazit M, Onoz B (2007) To prewhiten or not to prewhiten in trend analysis. Hydrol Sci J 52(4):611–624

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bian T, Lian ZL (2008) Characteristics of temperature variation in Shijiazhuang in recent 46 years. J Arid Meteorol (in Chinese) 26(2):57–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Bian T, Ren GY, Zhang CH, Yan F (2012) Characteristics and change of urban heat island intensity in Shijiazhuang. J Nanjing Univ Inf Sci Technol Nat Sci Edn (in Chinese) 4(5):402–408

    Google Scholar 

  • Bian T, Ren GY, Zhang BX, Zhang L, Yue YX (2015) Urbanization effect on long-term trends of extreme temperature indices at Shijiazhuang station, North China. Theor Appl Climatol 119(3–4):407–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen ZH, Wang HJ, Ren GY (2005) Change of urban heat island intensity and its effect on regional temperature series: a case study in Hubei Province. Clim Environ Res (in Chinese) 10(4):71–779

    Google Scholar 

  • Chu ZY, Ren GY (2005) Changes in urban heat island magnitude and its effect on mean air temperature record in Beijing region. Acta Meteorol Sin 63(4):534–540 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dai A, Trenberth KE, Karl TR (1999) Effects of clouds, soil moisture, precipitation and water vapor on diurnal temperature range. J Clim 12:2451–2473

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grimmond CSB (2006) Progress in measuring and observing the urban atmosphere. Theor Appl Climatol 84:1–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen J, Ruedy R, Sato M, Lo K (2010) Global surface temperature change. Rev Geophys 48:RG4004. https://doi.org/10.1029/2010RG000345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He YT, Jia GS, Hu YH, Zhou ZJ (2013) Detecting urban warming signals in climate records. Adv Atmos Sci 30(4):1143–1153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hua LJ, Ma ZG, Guo WD (2008) The impact of urbanization on air temperature across China. Theor Appl Climatol 93:179–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang Y, Robert E, Dickson William L, Chameides WL (2006) Impact of aerosol indirect effect on surface temperature over East Asia. PNAS 103(12):4371–4376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones PD, Groisman PYA, Coughlan M, Plummer N, Wang WC, Karl TG (1990) Assessment of urbanization effects in time series of surface air temperature over land. Nature 347:169–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones PD, Osborn TJ, Briffa KR (1997) Estimating sampling errors in large-scale temperature averages. J Clim 10:2548–2568

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones PD, Lister DH, Li Q (2008) Urbanization effects in large-scale temperature records, with an emphasis on China. J Geophys Res 113:D16122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karl TR, Diaz HF, Kukla G (1988) Urbanization: its detection and effect in the United States climate record. J Climatol 1(11):1099–1123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karl TR et al (1993) A new perspective on recent global warming: asymmetric trends of daily maximum and minimum temperature. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 74(6):1007–1023

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kukla G, Gavin J, Karl TR (1986) Urban warming. J Appl Meteorol 25(9):1265–1270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y, Zhu L, Zhao X, Li S, Yan Y (2013) Urbanization impact on temperature change in China with emphasis on land cover change and human activity. J Clim 26:8765–8780

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li J, Ren GY, Ren YY, Zhang L (2014) Effect of data homogenization on temperature trend estimation and urban bias at Shenyang station. Trans Atmos Sci (in Chinese) 37(3):297–303

    Google Scholar 

  • Luo M, Lau NC (2017) Heat waves in southern China: synoptic behavior, long-term change, and urbanization effects. J Clim 30(2):703–720

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oke TR (1987) Boundary layer climates. Methuen, p 435

  • Qian C (2016) On trend estimation and significance testing for non-Gaussian and serially dependent data: quantifying the urbanization effect on trends in hot extremes in the megacity of Shanghai. Clim Dyn 47:329–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ren YY, Ren GY (2011) A remote-sensing method of selecting reference stations foe evaluating urbanization effect on surface temperature trends. J Clim 24(7):3179–3189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ren GY, Zhou YQ (2014) Urbanization effect on trends of extreme temperature indices of national stations over mainland China, 1961–2008. J Clim 27(6):2340–2360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ren GY et al (2005) Recent progresses in studies of regional temperature changes in China. Clim Environ Res (in Chinese) 10(4):701–716

    Google Scholar 

  • Ren GY, Chu ZY, Chen ZH, Ren YY (2007) Implications of temporal change in urban heat island intensity observed at Beijing and Wuhan stations. Geophys Res Lett 34(34):89–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Ren GY, Zhou YQ, Chu ZY, Zhou JX, Zhang AY, Guo J, Liu X (2008) Urbanization effects on observed surface air temperature trends in North China. J Clim 21:1333–1350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ren GY, Feng GL, Yan ZW (2010) Progresses in observation studies of climate extremes and changes in mainland China. Clim Environ Res (in Chinese) 15(4):337–353

    Google Scholar 

  • Ren GY et al (2015) Determination of reference station for evaluating and adjusting urbanization bias in surface air temperature data over mainland China. J Appl Meteorol Climatol 54:1248–1266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang F, Ge QS (2012) Estimation of urbanization bias in observed surface temperature change in China from 1980 to 2009 using satellite land-use data. Chin Sci Bull 57(14):1708–1715

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang XL, Swail VR (2001) Changes of extreme wave heights in Northern hemisphere oceans and related atmospheric circulation regimes. J. Clim 14:2204–2221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang WC, Zeng Z, Karl TR (1990) Urban heat islands in China. Geophys Res Lett 17:2377–2380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang K, Ye H, Chen F, Xiong YZ, Wang CP (2012) Urbanization effect on the diurnal temperature range: different roles under solar dimming and brightening. J Clim 25:1022–1027

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang XM, Liao JB, Zhang J, Shen C, Chen WH, Xia BC (2014) A numeric study of regional climate change induced by urban expansion in the Pearl River Delta. China. J Appl Meteorol Climatol 53(2):346–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei FY (2007) Diagnosis and forecasting methods of modern climate statistics, 2nd edn. China Meteorological Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu K, Yang XQ (2013) Urbanization and heterogeneous surface warming in eastern China. Chin Sci Bull 58:1363–1373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu LY, Zhang JY (2013) Asymmetric effects of soil moisture on mean daily maximum and minimum temperatures over eastern China. Meterorol Atmos Phys 122:199–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie Z, Ca HX (1996) The asymmetric trend of change in maximum and minimum temperature in Beijing. Acta Meteorol Sin (in Chinese) 54(4):501–507

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu XD, Tang X et al (2002) Urban atmospheric environment observation technology and principle. China Meteorological Press, Beijing, pp 11–43 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang XC, Hou YL, Chen BD (2011) Observed surface warming induced by urbanization in east China. J Geophys Res 116:D14113. https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD015452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang YJ et al (2012) Impacts of urbanization and station-relocation on surface air temperature series in Anhui Province, China. Pure Appl Geophys 170:1969–1983

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yue S, Wang CY (2002) Applicability of prewhitening to eliminate the influence of serial correlation on the Mann–Kendall test. Water Resour Res 38(6):41–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhai PM, Ren FM (1997) Maximum and minimum temperature change of China over the past 40 years. Acta Meteorol Sin (in Chinese) 55(4):418–429

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X, Zwiers FW (2004) Comment on “Applicability of prewhitening to eliminate the influence of serial correlation on the Mann–Kendall test” by Sheng Yue and Chun Yuan Wang. Water Resour Res. https://doi.org/10.1029/2003WR002073

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang XB, Vincent LA, Hogg WD, Niitsoo A (2000) Temperature and precipitation trends in Canada during the 20th century. Atmos Ocean 38(3):395–429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang AY, Ren GY, Zhou JX, Chu ZY, Ren YY, Tang GL (2010) On the urbanization effect on surface air temperature trends over China. Acta Meteorol Sin (in Chinese) 68(6):957–966

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang L, Ren GY, Ren YY et al (2014) Effect of data homogenization on estimate of temperature trend: a case of Huairou station in Beijing Municipality. Theor Appl Climatol 115(3–4):365–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao ZC (1991) Temperature change and urbanization effect of China in recent 39 years. Meteorol Mon (in Chinese) 17(4):14–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou YQ, Ren GY (2009) The effect of urbanization on maximum, minimum temperatures and daily temperature range in North China. Plateau Meteorol (in Chinese) 28(5):1158–1166

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study is financed by the China Natural Science Foundation (CNSF) (Fund No: 41575003) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Fund No: GYHY201206012). We appreciate the constructive comments from three reviewers, and the help from Mr Panfeng Zhang in evaluating the impact of serial correlation on estimate of urbanization effect in the urban data series.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shijiazhuang Meteorological Bureau, Shijiazhuang, 050081, China

    Tao Bian

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

    Tao Bian & Guoyu Ren

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

    Guoyu Ren

Authors
  1. Tao Bian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Guoyu Ren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guoyu Ren.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: C. Simmer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bian, T., Ren, G. Reassessment of urbanization effect on surface air temperature trends at an urban station of North China. Meteorol Atmos Phys 131, 237–250 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-017-0568-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-017-0568-z

Search

Navigation