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Elevation-dependent temperature change in the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau grassland during the past decade

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Abstract

As the world's highest and largest plateau, the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau has experienced a greater warming than the Northern Hemisphere and global averages. This warming has been reported to exhibit an elevation-dependent pattern. However, the finding involved plenty of uncertainties caused by the spatially limited datasets and complex topography. Here, we explored an approach integrating satellite-derived LST data and ground records to generate a spatially continuous air temperature dataset for the plateau grasslands from 2003 to 2012, and then examined influences of elevation/topography on temperature change trends. The derived temperature dataset was validated to be closely correlated with field-station records. Based on the derived spatially continuous temperature datasets, we found an opposite change trend of annually average temperature between Qinghai and Xizang Province. The contrasted trend was obvious in daytime and more so in summer season. By analyzing the temperature trend in relation to elevation, we found an enhanced temperature change trend in higher elevation than in lower elevation for autumn nights and winter temperatures, while the temperature change trends for other seasons were more evident in lower elevation areas. The varying temperature change trends as regulated by elevation implies that temperate grasslands have experienced a more rapid temperature change than alpine grasslands during the past decade.

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the 973 Program (2013CB956302) of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the “thirteenth 5-year plan” strategic technology project (2012ZD005) of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and One Hundred Talent Plan, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lhasa station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Jian Tao, Yangjian Zhang, Juntao Zhu, Yanbin Jiang, Xianzhou Zhang, Tao Zhang & Yi Xi

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Jian Tao, Tao Zhang & Yi Xi

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  1. Jian Tao
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Correspondence to Yangjian Zhang.

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Tao, J., Zhang, Y., Zhu, J. et al. Elevation-dependent temperature change in the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau grassland during the past decade. Theor Appl Climatol 117, 61–71 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-013-0976-z

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