Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Temporal and spatial characteristics of droughts and floods in northern China from 1644 to 1911

  • Published:
Journal of Earth System Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study analyses the temporal and spatial distributions of droughts and floods in northern China during the Qing Dynasty (1636–1912), with data ranging from 1644 to 1911, or nearly the entire dynastic period. Variations in the intensities of droughts and floods are investigated across different timescales and with respect to their spatial variation. The impacts and physical mechanisms of solar activity as well as surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean on drought and flood intensities in northern China are analysed using a cross-wavelet method. The results reveal periodicities on scales of 10–11, 20–22, 45–50 and 90–100 yrs. Seven rapid changes are found on the 10-yr scale and four are found on the 30-yr scale. Analysing the spatial distribution of drought and flood intensities, we found a trend of decreasing precipitation from east to west. Precipitation over the Shandong region, which is in the eastern part of the study area, is significantly higher than that of the other regions, which may be explained by its coastal location and the resultant rich water vapour content of the atmosphere. Analyses of cross-wavelet power spectra and coherence spectra among the different drought and flood intensities and the Niño3 regional sea surface temperature (SST) index series and sunspot series indicate significant correlations between the drought and flood series and the Niño3 SST index series at scales of 2–4 and 8–12 yrs, and the phase difference differs across the different timescales. Furthermore, the drought and flood series and the sunspot series are closely correlated at a scale of 8–14 yrs.

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
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ashok K, Behera S K, Rao S A, Weng H and Yamagata T 2007 El Nino Modoki and its possible teleconnection; J. Geophys. Res. 112(c11) 1–27.

  • Beer J 2006 Solar variability and climate change; Sol. Var. Earth Clim. 76(4) 751–754.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bi S B, Sun L, Li X Y, Chen C C and Lu Y 2018 Characteristics of drought and flood disasters in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River from 1470 to 1911 based on EEMD method; J. Nat. Disast. 27(1) 137–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cao Y Q, Liu J J and Gao L 2015 Relationship between sunspots and precipitation in northwestern Liaoning in recent 54 years; Sci. Geogr. Sin. 35(8) 1027–1032.

  • Chen Y Q 1991 A study on the droughts and their impacts from 1470 to 1979 in North China; Meteor. Mon. 03 17–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen T, Sun W G and Cheng B Y 2002 Bivariate wavelet analysis of henan precipitation and ENSO; J. Nanjing Inst. Meteor. 25(5) 685–692.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences 1982 Atlas of the drought/flood category for nearly 500 years; Map Press, Beijing, pp. 145–235.

  • Clayton H H 1923 World weather; MacMilan, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • COHMAP Members 1988 Climatic change of the last 18000 years: Observations and model simulations; Science 241 1043–1052.

  • De Jager C 2012 Solar forcing of climate; Surv. Geophys. 33(3/4) 445–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denton G H and Karlen E 1973 Holocene climate variations – Their pattern and possible cause; Quat. Res. 3(2) 155–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easterling D R and Wehner M F 2009 Is the climate warming or cooling; Geophys. Res. Lett. 36(8) 1–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eddy J A 1976 The maunder minimum; Science 192(4245) 189–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eddy J A 1977 Climate and the changing sun; Clim. Change 1(2) 173–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eddy J 1992 A past global changes project, proposed implementation plans for research activities; Global Change Report No. 19, Sweden, Stockholm, IGBP, pp. 1–112.

  • Feng J, Guan Z Y and Wang L J 2010 Impact of central equatorial Pacific SST a pattern on precipitation and temperature in East China in summer; Trans. Atmos. Sci. 33(5) 547–554.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster G and Rahmstorf S 2011 Global temperature evolution \(1979 \sim 2010\); Environ. Res. Lett. 6(4) 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fu C B and Wang Q 1992 The definition and detection of the abrupt climatic change; Chin. J. Atmos. Sci. 16(4) 482–493.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gong D Y and Wang S W 1999 Impacts of ENSO on global land and precipitation in China over the past 100 years; Chin. Sci. Bull. 44(3) 315–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray L J, Beer J, Geller M, Haigh J D, Lockwood M, Matthes K, Cubasch U, Fleitmann D, Harrison G, Hood L, Luterbacher J, Meehl G A, Shindell D, van Geel B and White W 2010 Solar influences on climate; Rev. Geophys. 48(4) 1–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grinsted A, Moore J C and Jevrejeva S 2004 Application of the cross wavelet transform and wavelet coherence to geophysical time series; Nonlinear Proc. Geophys. 11 561–566.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grosselmann A, Morlet J and Paul T 1985 Transforms associated to square integrable group representations.I: General results; J. Math. Phys. 26(10) 2473–2479.

  • Haigh J D 2007 The sun and the Earth’s climate; Living Rev. Sol. Phys. 4(2) 2–298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hao Z X, Zheng J Y and Ge Q S 2003 Climate change and harvest in Xi’an since 1736: The high-resolution data derived from the archives in the Qing dynasty; Acta Geogr. Sin. 58(5) 735–742.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoyt D V and Schatten K H 1977 The role of the sun in climate change; Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jin Z H and Tao S Y 1999 A study on the relationships between ENSO cycle and rainfalls during summer and winter in eastern China; Chin. J. Atmos. Sci. 23(6) 663–672.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunklb K E, Easterling D R, Redmond K and Hubbard K 2003 Temporal variations of extreme precipitation events in the United States: 1895–2000; Geophys. Res. Lett. 30(17) 1900.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li L P and Luo T 2014 Intraseasonal oscillation of SST over northwest Pacific and its relationship with summer intraseasonal rainfall in eastern China; Trans. Atmos. Sci. 37(6) 715–722.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li C Y, Zhu J H and Sun Z B 2002 The study interdecadel climate varication; Clim. Environ. Res. 7(2) 209–219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li X L, Bi S J, Wei J, Yan T X and Bi S B 2014 Change laws of drought and flood disasters in Shijiazhuang region in Qing dynasty; J. Arid Land Resour. 28(9) 161–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li F, Zhang J X, Hao Z W, Wu Y L and Zhou J H 2015 Correlation analysis of rainfall and ENSO in Shanxi; Acta Geogr. Sin. 70(3) 420–430.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li X L, Liu W, Feng Y, Fang R and Wu S S 2016 Change laws of drought and flood disasters in Shijiazhuang region in recent 545 years;. J Arid Land Resour. 30(5) 156–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma L H, Han Y B and Yin Z Q 2007 The possible influence of solar activity on Indian summer monsoon rainfall; Appl. Geophys. 4(3) 231–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mendoza B, Lara A, Maravill D and Jauregui E 2001 Temperature variability in central Mexico and its possible association to solar activity; J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys. 63(18) 1891–1900.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qu J H 1989 Study on climate characteristics of drought and flood in North China Plain; J. Shandong Meteor. S1 21–24.

  • Reid G C 1987 Influence of solar variability on global sea surface temperature; Nature 29(10) 42–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodrigo F S, Estehan-parra M J and Casro-diez Y 1998 On the use of the Jesuit order private correspondence records in climate reconstruction: A case study from Castille (Spain) for 1634–1648 A.D.; Clim. Change 40(3–4) 625–645.

  • Rong Y S 2004 Large-scale climate change and drought in the northern of China; Nanjing Institute of Meteorology, Nanjing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scafetta N 2010 Climate change and its causes, a discussion about some key issues; arXiv preprint arXiv:1003.1554v1, pp. 70–75.

  • Sun Z B and Chen H S 2004 Advance in study of decadal climate variability; J. Shandong Meteor. 24(1) 5–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun W G, Cheng B Y and Huang H R 2005 The frequency characteristics of warm and cold episodes in the Nino regions; J. Trop. Meteorol. 11(2) 200–205.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang Y M and Guo L 1990 Research on drought/flood influence factors in China; Sci. Geogr. Sin. 10(1) 77–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torrence C and Compo G P 1998 A practical guide to wavelet analysis; Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 79(1) 61–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang S W 1999 A review of four books on decadal climate variability; Acta Meteor. Sin. 57(4) 510–512.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang S W 2001 Advances in modern climatology; Meteorological Press, Beijing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang Z Y 2007 Climatic variability of summer rainfalls in China and the possible mechanism; Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang S W, Gong D Y, Ye J L and Chen Z H 2000 Seasonal precipitation series of eastern China since 1880 and the variability; Acta Geogr. Sin. 55(3) 281–293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang S W, Ge Q S, Wang F, Wen X Y and Huang J B 2010 Key issues on debating about the global warming; Adv. Earth Sci. 25(6) 656–665.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang S Y, Li Z X, Wang D J and Liu C Z 2012 Relation of autumn central equatorial Pacific SSTA pattern and winter precipitation and temperature in China; J. Meteor. Sci. 32(6) 653–658.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang H, Yu J H, Wang W J and Gao Y J 2013 Variability of drought/flood in Hebei province and associated atmospheric and oceanic pattern analysis; J. Nanjing. Univ. Inf. Sci. Tech. 5(6) 487–493.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang H B, Han G H and Yang R R 2016a Research on the sequence reconstruction and characteristics diagnosis of droughts and floods in Baoding during 1368–1911; J. Arid Land Resour. 30(7) 144–150.

  • Wang L L, Yan J P and Han X M 2016b Statistical study of the relationship between the drought and flood over circum-Bohai-region and the Sunspot activity and ENSO; Acta Univ. Sunyatseni 55(1) 123–130.

  • Wei F Y 2007 Modern climate statistical diagnosis and prediction technology; Meteorological Press, Beijing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wei J, Chen X L, Yu H Y, Li T and Zhao L 2016 Drought and flood disaster characteristics of Hebei province from 1470 to 2014; J. Arid Land Resour. 30(12) 103–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu Y L and Shen J Z 1980 The moisture content and its transportation in spring over China and their correlation with the precipitation in North China; J. B Normal Univ. 3–4 123–129.

  • Xu X H, Zhang H P and Li Z Y 1998 Sunspot, El Nino and summer precipitation in Shaanxi; J. Shaanxi Meteor. 1 23–25.

  • Xu Y C, Tan Y K, Li C Y and Chen C H 2008 Characteristics of Pacific sea surface temperature intraseasonal oscillations; J. PLA Univ. Sci. Tech. 9(2) 125–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yan Z W 1995 Some chaotic features of the wet/dry fluctuations in North China; Acta Meteor. Sin. 53(02) 232–237.

  • Yan Z W 1999 Interdecadal oscillations of precipitation in North China and its relation with global temperature; J. Appl. Meteor. Sci. 10 16–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang Y D, Wang M S and Man Z M 2009 The progress of research methods in Chinese historical climate in the past 30 years: Focusing on the Use of historical documents; J. Chin. Histor. Geogr. 24(2) 5–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang C G, Chen X, Zhang R R, Hu Q, Yu Z B, Hao Z C and Lin Z H 2014 Characteristics of flood and drought events of the last half millennium in Huaihe River basin; Adv. Water Sci. 25(7) 503–510.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang R R, Wang H B, Lian L S and Chen J 2015 The analysis of drought and flood timing feature in recent five hundred years of Qufu; J. Qufu Normal Univ. 41(4) 93–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu D D, Zhang R, Hong M, Liu K F and Wang H Z 2007 Correlation analysis between the West Pacific subtropical high and the East Asian summer monsoon system based on cross wavelet and wavelet coherence; J. Nanjing Inst. Meteor. 30(6) 755–769.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang D E and Liu C Z 1997 Reconstruction of six regional dry/wet series and their abrupt changes during the last 1000 years in East China; Quat. Sci. 1 1–11.

  • Zhang J, Man Z M, Xiao W W and Shen Z Z 2013 Research on sequence reconstruction and characteristics diagnosis of droughts and floods in the middle Yellow River since the Qing Dynasty (1644–2009); Geogr. Res. 32(9) 1579–1690.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao J, Li Z A and Han Y B 1999 Effect of solar activity and EI Nino for rainfall in Beijing and prediction of the rainfall; Prog. Geophys. 14(1) 123–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao B B, Li G Q and Deng M 2010 An overview on the progress of spatio temporal data mining; Sci. Surv. Mapp. 18(5) 1043–1051.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou J H, Jing X J, Ren H L and Li F 2012 Relations between spring precipitation in Shanxi and anomalies of 500 hPa circulation field and SST in Pacific Ocean; Plateau Meteor. 31(2) 470–476.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu J H and Wang S W 2001 80a-oscillatation of summer rainfall over east of China and East Asian summer monsoon; Adv. Atmos. Sci. 18(5) 1043–1051.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41271410 and 41071253). We are grateful to the reviewers for their valuable comments that helped to improve the quality of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geographical Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210 044, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Shuoben Bi, Ying Lu, Ying Qu & Feng Zhao

  2. Department of Computer Science, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA

    Shengjie Bi

Authors
  1. Shuoben Bi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shengjie Bi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ying Lu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ying Qu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Feng Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shuoben Bi.

Additional information

Corresponding editor: Kavirajan Rajendran

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bi, S., Bi, S., Lu, Y. et al. Temporal and spatial characteristics of droughts and floods in northern China from 1644 to 1911. J Earth Syst Sci 128, 98 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-019-1121-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-019-1121-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation