Abstract
Annual and seasonal warming trends in southwestern China during 1961–2008 were significant. About 77% of the 110 stations displayed statistically significant increases of annual temperature. The increase was more apparent in higher altitude areas than in lower ones. Warm–dry flow in summer affected the study region, and the southern extent of the winter monsoon has also been weakened, which in part accounts for some of the climate warming experienced especially in the warmest years in southwestern China. Sunshine hours have a crucial influence on the SB temperature especially during spring and summer, whereas this influence mainly is effective in winter at the Xizang Plateau–Hengduna Mountains and Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau. In addition, the increased net longwave radiation flux over the most areas in the study region and sea surface temperature in Western Pacific may have also made some contributions to temperature rise. Precipitation variations were less marked than those of temperature, generally showing weak decreasing trends during 1961–2008. About 53% of the stations experienced a trend of increasing annual precipitation. Stations with precipitation increases were also mainly at higher altitudes mainly owing to the more water vapor flux, but the significance level was low. Northward penetration of the summer monsoon is limited by an increasing northeasterly air flow over the region, and northwesterly winds in the north are preventing southward transportation of water vapor from the ocean in summer. In addition, the water vapor flux showed a weak variation from the most precipitation years to the least years. These characteristics suggest a weakened monsoonal flow and vapor transportation in recent years, and also partly explain the inconspicuous precipitation variations over southwestern China. In addition, the strengthening Western Pacific Subtropical High also has had some influence on precipitation variations.
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Li, Z. (2015). Spatial and Temporal Variation of Temperature and Precipitation in Southwestern China. In: Study on Climate Change in Southwestern China. Springer Theses. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44742-0_3
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