Factors Influencing the Spatial Variability of Air Temperature Urban Heat Island Intensity in Chinese Cities

Few studies have investigated the spatial patterns of the air temperature urban heat island(AUHI)and its controlling factors.In this study,the data generated by an urban climate model were used to investigate the spatial variations of the AUHI across China and the underlying climate and ecological drivers.A total of 355 urban clusters were used.We performed an attribution analysis of the AUHI to elucidate the mechanisms underlying its formation.The results show that the midday AUHI is negatively correlated with climate wetness(humid:0.34 K;semi-humid:0.50 K;semi-arid:0.73 K).The annual mean midnight AUHI does not show discernible spatial patterns,but is generally stronger than the midday AUHI.The urban–rural difference in convection efficiency is the largest contributor to the midday AUHI in the humid(0.32±0.09 K)and the semi-arid(0.36±0.11 K)climate zones.The release of anthropogenic heat from urban land is the dominant contributor to the midnight AUHI in all three climate zones.The rural vegetation density is the most important driver of the daytime and nighttime AUHI spatial variations.A spatial covariance analysis revealed that this vegetation influence is manifested mainly through its regulation of heat storage in rural land.

Surface air temperature change in the Wuyi Mountains,southeast China

Detecting changes in surface air temperature in mid-and low-altitude mountainous regions is essential for a comprehensive understanding of warming trend with altitude.We use daily surface air temperature data from 64 meteorological stations in Wuyi Mountains and its adjacent regions to analyze the spatio-temporal patterns of temperature change.The results show that Wuyi Mountains have experienced significant warming from 1961 to 2018.The warming trend of the mean temperature is 0.20℃/decade,the maximum temperature is 0.17℃/decade,and the minimum temperature is 0.26℃/decade.In 1961-1990,more than 63%of the stations showed a decreasing trend in annual mean temperature,mainly because the maximum temperature decreased during this period.However,in 1971-2000,1981-2010 and 1991-2018,the maximum,minimum and mean temperatures increased.The fastest increasing trend of mean temperature occurred in the southeastern coastal plains,the quickest increasing trend of maximum temperature occurred in the northwestern mountainous region,and the increase of minimum temperature occurred faster in the southeastern coastal and northwestern mountainous regions than that in the central area.Meanwhile,this study suggests that elevation does not affect warming in the Wuyi Mountains.These results are beneficial for understanding climate change in humid subtropical middle and low mountains.

Spatial Variation in CO_(2) Concentration Improves the Simulated Surface Air Temperature Increase in the Northern Hemisphere

The increasing concentration of atmospheric CO_(2) since the Industrial Revolution has affected surface air temperature.However,the impact of the spatial distribution of atmospheric CO_(2) concentration on surface air temperature biases remains highly unclear.By incorporating the spatial distribution of satellite-derived atmospheric CO_(2) concentration in the Beijing Normal University Earth System Model,this study investigated the increase in surface air temperature since the Industrial Revolution in the Northern Hemisphere(NH) under historical conditions from 1976-2005.In comparison with the increase in surface temperature simulated using a uniform distribution of CO_(2),simulation with a nonuniform distribution of CO_(2)produced better agreement with the Climatic Research Unit(CRU) data in the NH under the historical condition relative to the baseline over the period 1901-30.Hemispheric June-July-August(JJA) surface air temperature increased by 1.28℃ ±0.29℃ in simulations with a uniform distribution of CO_(2),by 1.00℃±0.24℃ in simulations with a non-uniform distribution of CO_(2),and by 0.24℃ in the CRU data.The decrease in downward shortwave radiation in the non-uniform CO_(2) simulation was primarily attributable to reduced warming in Eurasia,combined with feedbacks resulting from increased leaf area index(LAI) and latent heat fluxes.These effects were more pronounced in the non-uniform CO_(2)simulation compared to the uniform CO_(2) simulation.Results indicate that consideration of the spatial distribution of CO_(2)concentration can reduce the overestimated increase in surface air temperature simulated by Earth system models.

Influence of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation on Antarctic surface air temperature during 1900 to 2015

The importance of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation(AMO)and Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation(IPO)in influencing zonally asymmetric changes in Antarctic surface air temperature(SAT)has been established.However,previous studies have primarily concentrated on examining the combined impact of the contrasting phases of the AMO and IPO,which have been dominant since the advent of satellite observations in 1979.This study utilizes long-term reanalysis data to investigate the impact of four combinations of+AMO+IPO,–AMO–IPO,+AMO–IPO,and–AMO+IPO on Antarctic SAT over the past 115 years.The+AMO phase is characterized by a spatial mean temperature amplitude of up to 0.5℃over the North Atlantic Ocean,accompanied by positive sea surface temperature(SST)anomalies in the tropical eastern Pacific and negative SST anomalies in the extratropical-mid-latitude western Pacific,which are indicative of the+IPO phase.The Antarctic SAT exhibits contrasting spatial patterns during the+AMO+IPO and+AMO–IPO periods.However,during the–AMO+IPO period,apart from the Antarctic Peninsula and the vicinity of the Weddell Sea,the entire Antarctic region experiences a warming trend.The most pronounced signal in the SAT anomalies is observed during the austral autumn,whereas the combination of–AMO and–IPO exhibits the smallest magnitude across all the combinations.The wavetrain excited by the SST anomalies associated with the AMO and IPO induces upper-level and surface atmospheric circulation anomalies,which alter the SAT anomalies.Furthermore,downward longwave radiation anomalies related to anomalous cloud cover play a crucial role.In the future,if the phases of AMO and IPO were to reverse(AMO transitioning to a negative phase and IPO transitioning to a positive phase),Antarctica could potentially face more pronounced warming and accelerated melting compared to the current observations.

Response of Rice Cultivars to Elevated Air Temperature and Soil Amendments: Implications towards Climate Change Adaptations and Mitigating Global Warming Potentials

Global mean surface air temperature is expected to increase 1.1˚C - 6.4˚C by the end of 21st century which may affect rice productivity and methane emissions in the future climate. This experiment was conducted to investigate the response of rice cultivars to elevated air temperature (+1.5˚C higher than ambient) and soil amendments in regards to rice yield, yield scaled methane emissions and global warming potentials. The experimental findings revealed that replacement of inorganic fertilizers (20% - 40% of recommended NPKS) with Vermicompost, Azolla biofertilizer, enriched sugarcane pressmud, rice husk biochar and silicate fertilization increased rice yield 13.0% - 23.0%, and 11.0% - 19.0% during wet aman and dry boro season, respectively. However, seasonal cumulative CH4 fluxes were decreased by 9.0% - 25.0% and 5.0% - 19.0% during rainfed wet aman and irrigated dry boro rice cultivation, respectively with selected soil amendments. The maximum reduction in seasonal cumulative CH4 flux (19.0% - 25.0%) was recorded with silicate fertilization and azolla biofertilizer amendments (9.0% - 13.0%), whereas maximum grain yield increment 10.0 % - 14.0% was found with Vermicompost and Sugarcane pressmud amendments compared to chemical fertilization (100% NPKS) treated soils at ambient air temperature. However, rice grain yield decreased drastically 43.0% - 50.0% at elevated air temperature (3˚C higher than ambient air temperature), eventhough accelerated the total cumulative CH4 flux as well as GWPs in all treatments. Maximum seasonal mean GWPs were calculated at 391.0 kg CO2 eq·ha−1 in rice husk biochar followed by sugarcane pressmud (mean GWP 387.0 kg CO2 eq·ha−1), while least GWPs were calculated at 285 - 305 kg CO2 eq·ha−1 with silicate fertilizer and Azolla biofertilizer amendments. Rice cultivar BRRI dhan 87 revealed comparatively higher seasonal cumulative CH4 fluxes, yield scaled CH4 flux and GWPs than BRRI dhan 71 during wet aman rice growing season;while BRRI dhan 89 showed higher cumulative CH4 flux and GWPs than BINA dhan 10 during irrigated boro rice cultivation. Conclusively, inorganic fertilizers may be partially (20% - 40% of the recommended NPKS) replaced with Vermicompost, azolla biofertilizer, silicate fertilizer and enriched sugarcane pressmud compost for sustainable rice production and decreasing GWPs under elevated air temperature condition.

Urban Surroundings Influence on Air Temperature in a Small Urban Area of Curitiba-Brazil

The formation of urban climates constitutes a distinctive system intrinsically linked to the urban environment. This study aims to delve into the impact of the urban environment on climatic variables. The Urban Weather Generator (UWG) algorithm was employed to generate climatic data, facilitating the creation of an epw climate file that corresponds to the urban characteristics surrounding the Centro Politécnico campus at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR). Comprehensive analyses encompassing land use, occupancy patterns, albedo, surface absorption, anthropogenic heat, and architectural attributes were conducted. A comparative assessment between the UWG-derived air temperature values and meteorological station data revealed that the UWG effectively characterizes the air temperature patterns around the UFPR campus. The anticipated air temperature values consistently surpass the original dataset (SWERA), which was utilized as input, primarily during the hours from 3 p.m. to 7 a.m., showcasing the unmistakable urban heat island phenomenon.

Absorptive root-multidimension strategy links air temperature and species distribution in a montane forest

Background: Air temperature affects absorptive root traits, which are closely related to species distribution.However, it is still unclear how air temperature regulates species distribution through changes in absorptive root traits. Seven functional traits of the absorptive roots of 240 individuals of 52 species, soil properties and air temperature were measured along an elevational gradient on Mt. Fanjingshan, Tongren City, Guizhou, and then the direct and indirect effects of these controls on species distribution were detected.Results: Absorptive roots adapted to air temperature with two strategies. The first strategy was positively associated with the specific root area(SRA) and specific root length(SRL) and was negatively associated with the root tissue density(RTD), representing the classic root economics spectrum(RES). The second strategy was represented by the trade-off between root diameter, mycorrhizal fungi colonization(MF) and SRL, representing the collaboration gradient with “do it yourself” resource uptake ranging from “outsourcing” to mycorrhizal resource uptake. Air temperature regulated species distribution in six ways: directly reducing species importance value;indirectly increasing the species importance value by reducing soil nitrogen content or increasing soil pH by reducing soil moisture inducing absorptive roots to change from “do it yourself” resource absorption to “outsourcing” resource absorption;indirectly decreasing the species importance value by decreasing soil moisture to change from“outsourcing”resource absorption to “do it yourself” resource absorption;indirectly increasing the species importance value with increasing soil pH by reducing soil moisture resulting in absorptive root traits turning into nutrient foraging traits;and indirectly decreasing the species importance value by promoting absorptive root traits to nutrient conservation traits.Conclusions: Absorptive root traits play a crucial role in the regulation of species distribution through multiapproaches of air temperature.

Estimating Monthly Surface Air Temperature Using MODIS LST Data and an Artificial Neural Network in the Loess Plateau, China

Air temperature(Ta)datasets with high spatial and temporal resolutions are needed in a wide range of applications,such as hydrology,ecology,agriculture,and climate change studies.Nonetheless,the density of weather station networks is insufficient,especially in sparsely populated regions,greatly limiting the accuracy of estimates of spatially distributed Ta.Due to their continuous spatial coverage,remotely sensed land surface temperature(LST)data provide the possibility of exploring spatial estimates of Ta.However,because of the complex interaction of land and climate,retrieval of Ta from the LST is still far from straightforward.The estimation accuracy varies greatly depending on the model,particularly for maximum Ta.This study estimated monthly average daily minimum temperature(Tmin),average daily maximum temperature(Tmax)and average daily mean temperature(Tmean)over the Loess Plateau in China based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)LST data(MYD11A2)and some auxiliary data using an artificial neural network(ANN)model.The data from 2003 to 2010 were used to train the ANN models,while 2011 to 2012 weather station temperatures were used to test the trained model.The results showed that the nighttime LST and mean LST provide good estimates of Tmin and Tmean,with root mean square errors(RMSEs)of 1.04℃ and 1.01℃,respectively.Moreover,the best RMSE of Tmax estimation was 1.27℃.Compared with the other two published Ta gridded datasets,the produced 1 km×1 km dataset accurately captured both the temporal and spatial patterns of Ta.The RMSE of Tmin estimation was more sensitive to elevation,while that of Tmax was more sensitive to month.Except for land cover type as the input variable,which reduced the RMSE by approximately 0.01℃,the other vegetation-related variables did not improve the performance of the model.The results of this study indicated that ANN,a type of machine learning method,is effective for long-term and large-scale Ta estimation.

Research on Air Temperature Variation Characteristics and Trend in Tacheng Prefecture in Xinjiang during 1954-2008

[Objective] The aim was to analyze the changes characteristics of temperature in Tacheng.[Method] By dint of monthly average temperature from 1955 to 2008 in four typical meteorology station,Tacheng,Hebukesai’er,Tuoli and Wusu,the temperature multi-temporal scale characteristics and changes trend in future in Tacheng were expounded by small wave analysis and climate trend coefficient method.[Result] The average temperature in so many years in Tacheng was 5.88 ℃.The annual changes of temperature were relatively stable.The coefficient of changes were between 0.130-0.265.The extreme value was between 1.73-3.79;the sequence distribution of temperature showed plat peak form and the annual average temperature was divergence.The temperature in Tacheng had 5-year,9-year and 14-year period.It was in cold period in 1970 when average temperature was only 3.77 ℃.The 1980s was the warmest age in recent 54 years,reaching 8.10℃.In recent 90s,and comparing with 80s,temperature in Tacheng was decreasing,but still higher than that in 70s.It was forecasted that the temperature in future would increase.The annual average temperature in each area and the average temperature in each season in Tacheng increased significantly,with a range of 1.15-2.05 ℃/10 a.The smallest temperature increase speed in summer was 0.16-0.45 ℃/10 a.The annual average temperature changes speed was 0.40-0.78 ℃/10 a.[Conclusion] The temperature changes in Tacheng had positive corresponding trend toward the climate warming.

Monitoring of Summer High Temperature Damage by Using MODIS Data to Estimate Air Temperature

[Objective] This study was to monitor the hot damage of high temperature on rice in summer by using MODIS data to estimate air temperature. [Method] A new statistical algorithm was introduced for daytime air temperature （Ta） retrievals over east China by using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer （MODIS） data, and the high temperature monitoring for rice in south China in 2007 summer was used to demonstrate. [Result] High temperature plays a key role in rice production during rice heading stage in summer in southern China. Using MODIS data to monitor the hot damage of high temperature is a feasible way to relieve agricultural disasters. [Conclusion] The result of this study provided a method to monitor hot damage of high temperature tn rice in summer of China.

Detecting and Adjusting Temporal Inhomogeneity in Chinese Mean Surface Air Temperature Data

Adopting the Easterling-Peterson (EP) techniques and considering the reality of Chinese meteorological observations, this paper designed several tests and tested for inhomogeneities in all Chinese historical surface air temperature series from 1951 to 2001. The result shows that the time series have been widely impacted by inhomogeneities resulting from the relocation of stations and changes in local environment such as urbanization or some other factors. Among these factors, station relocations caused the largest magnitude of abrupt changes in the time series, and other factors also resulted in inhomogeneities to some extent. According to the amplitude of change of the difference series and the monthly distribution features of surface air temperatures, discontinuities identified by applying both the E-P technique and supported by China's station history records, or by comparison with other approaches, have been adjusted. Based on the above processing, the most significant temporal inhomogeneities were eliminated, and China's most homogeneous surface air temperature series has thus been created. Results show that the inhomogeneity testing captured well the most important change of the stations, and the adjusted dataset is more reliable than ever. This suggests that the adjusted temperature dataset has great value of decreasing the uncertaities in the study of observed climate change in China.

A Decadal Shift of Summer Surface Air Temperature over Northeast Asia around the Mid-1990s

This study identifies a decadal shift of summer surface air temperature （SAT） over Northeast Asia,including southeastern parts of Russia,Mongolia and northern China,around the mid-1990s.The results suggest that the SAT over the Northeast Asia experienced a significant warming after 1994 relative to that before 1993.This decadal shift also extends to northern China,and leads to a warmer summer over Northeast China and North China after the mid-1990s.The decadal warming over Northeast Asia is found to concur with the enhancement of South China rainfall around the mid-1990s.On the one hand,both the Northeast Asian SAT and South China rainfall exhibit this mid-1990s decadal shift only in summer,but not in other seasons.On the other hand,both the Northeast Asian SAT and South China rainfall exhibit this mid-1990s decadal shift not only in the summer seasonal mean,but also in each month of summer （June,July and August）.Furthermore,the decadal warming is found to result from an anticyclonic anomaly over Northeast Asia,which can be interpreted as the response to the increased precipitation over South China,according to previous numerical results.Thus,we conclude that the warming shift of summer Northeast Asian SAT around the mid-1990s was a remote response to the increased precipitation over South China.

Probabilistic Multimodel Ensemble Prediction of Decadal Variability of East Asian Surface Air Temperature Based on IPCC-AR5 Near-term Climate Simulations

Based on near-term climate simulations for IPCC-AR5 （The Fifth Assessment Report）, probabilistic multimodel ensemble prediction （PMME） of decadal variability of surface air temperature in East Asia （20°-50°N, 100°- 145°E） was conducted using the multivariate Gaussian ensemble kernel dressing （GED） methodology. The ensemble system exhibited high performance in hindcasting the deeadal （1981-2010） mean and trend of temperature anomalies with respect to 1961-90, with a RPS of 0.94 and 0.88 respectively. The interpretation of PMME for future decades （2006-35） over East Asia was made on the basis of the bivariate probability density of the mean and trend. The results showed that, under the RCP4.5 （Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 W m-2） scenario, the annual mean temperature increases on average by about 1.1-1.2 K and the temperature trend reaches 0.6-0.7 K （30 yr）-1. The pattern for both quantities was found to be that the temperature increase will be less intense in the south. While the temperature increase in terms of the 30-yr mean was found to be virtually certain, the results for the 30-yr trend showed an almost 25% chance of a negative value. This indicated that, using a multimodel ensemble system, even if a longer-term warming exists for 2006-35 over East Asia, the trend for temperature may produce a negative value. Temperature was found to be more affected by seasonal variability, with the increase in temperature over East Asia more intense in autumn （mainly）, faster in summer to the west of 115°E, and faster still in autumn to the east of 115°E.

Regional-scale Surface Air Temperature and East Asian Summer Monsoon Changes during the Last Millennium Simulated by the FGOALS-gl Climate System Model

The spatial patterns and regional-scale surface air temperature （SAT） changes during the last millennium,as well as the variability of the East Asian summer monsoon （EASM） were simulated with a low-resolution version of Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land-Sea-ice （FGOALS-gl） model.The model was driven by both natural and anthropogenic forcing agents.Major features of the simulated past millennial Northern Hemisphere （NH） mean SAT variations,including the Medieval Climate Anomaly （MCA）,the Little Ice Age （LIA） and the 20th Century Warming （20CW）,were generally consistent with the reconstructions.The simulated MCA showed a global cooling pattern with reference to the 1961-90 mean conditions,indicating the 20CW to be unprecedented over the last millennium in the simulation.The LIA was characterized by pronounced coldness over the continental extratropical NH in both the reconstruction and the simulation.The simulated global mean SAT difference between the MCA and LIA was 0.14°C,with enhanced warming over high-latitude NH continental regions.Consistencies between the simulation and the reconstruction on regional scales were lower than those on hemispheric scales.The major features agreed well between the simulated and reconstructed SAT variations over the Chinese domain,despite some inconsistency in details among different reconstructions.The EASM circulation during the MCA was stronger than that during the LIA The corresponding rainfall anomalies exhibited excessive rainfall in the north but deficient rainfall in the south.Both the zonal and meridional thermal contrast were enhanced during the MCA.This temperature anomaly pattern favored a stronger monsoon circulation.

Temporal and spatial variation of annual mean air temperature in arid and semiarid region in northwest China over a recent 46 year period

We analyzed the 1961-2006 mean surface air temperature data of 138 stations in China’s northwest arid and semi-arid areas(CNASA),to measure climate change in terms of annual mean air temperature changes.We used methods of linear regression analysis,multinomial fitting,Empirical Or-thogonal Function(EOF),Rotated Empirical Orthogonal Function(REOF),Mann-Kendall,Glide T-examination,wavelet analysis and power spectrum analysis.The results show that(1) the warming rate of the annual mean air temperature in CNASA was 0.35oC/10a during the 1961-2006 study period.Some places in the west part of Xinjiang and east part of the Qinghai plateau,which is impacted by the terrain of leeward slope,exhibit smaller increasing trends.However,the majority of region has shown distinct warming in line with general global warming;(2) The standard deviation of the annual mean temperature distribution is non-uniform.The south Xinjiang and east Qinghai-south Gansu areas show relatively small standard deviations,but the inter-annual variation in annual mean air temperature in the greater part of the region is high;(3) Inner Mongolia,Shaanxi,Gansu,Ningxia and Tarim Basin are the areas where the temperature changes are most sensitive to the environment.The degree of uniformity in annual mean air temperature increase is higher in the arid and semi-arid area.From the early 1970s,the trend in tempera-ture changed from a decrease to an increase,and there was a marked increase in mean temperature in 1986.After that mean temperature went through a period of rapid increase.The entire area’s 10 hottest years all occurred in or since the 1990s,and 90% of various sub-districts’ hottest years also occurred after 1990.The process of temperature change appears to have a roughly 5-year and a 10-year cycle;(4) An-nual mean air temperature variation has regional differences.In Inner Mongolia-Xinjiang and Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia-Qinghai areas,the temperature variation in their northern areas was very different from that in their southern areas;(5) Using the REOF method we divided the region into 4 sub-regions:the Northern region,the Plateau region,the Southern Xinjiang region and the Eastern region.The region’s annual mean air temperature transition has regional differences.The Plateau and Southern Xinjiang re-gions got warmer steadily without any obvious acceleration in the rate of warming.The Northern region’s warming started about 5-years earlier than that of the low latitude Eastern region.The ’Startup region’ of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,appears to undergo temperature changes 3 to 10 years earlier than the other regions,and exhibits inter-decadal variations 1 to 2 years ahead of the other regions.

Variation in Summer Surface Air Temperature over Northeast Asia and Its Associated Circulation Anomalies

This study investigates the interannual variation of summer surface air temperature over Northeast Asia（NEA） and its associated circulation anomalies.Two leading modes for the temperature variability over NEA are obtained by EOF analysis.The first EOF mode is characterized by a homogeneous temperature anomaly over NEA and therefore is called the NEA mode.This anomaly extends from southeast of Lake Baikal to Japan,with a central area in Northeast China.The second EOF mode is characterized by a seesaw pattern,showing a contrasting distribution between East Asia（specifically including the Changbai Mountains in Northeast China,Korea,and Japan） and north of this region.This mode is named the East Asia（EA） mode.Both modes contribute equivalently to the temperature variability in EA.The two leading modes are associated with different circulation anomalies.A warm NEA mode is associated with a positive geopotential height anomaly over NEA and thus a weakened upper-tropospheric westerly jet.On the other hand,a warm EA mode is related to a positive height anomaly over EA and a northward displaced jet.In addition,the NEA mode tends to be related to the Eurasian teleconnection pattern,while the EA mode is associated with the East Asia-Pacific/PacificJapan pattern.

Predicting Winter Surface Air Temperature in Northeast China

The author investigates the prediction of Northeast China's winter surface air temperature (SAT),and first forecast the year to year increment in the predic-tand and then predict the predictand.Thus,in the first step,we determined the predictors for an increment in winter SAT by analyzing the atmospheric variability associated with an increment in winter SAT.Then,multi-linear re-gression was applied to establish a prediction model for an increment in winter SAT in Northeast China.The pre-diction model shows a high correlation coefficient (0.73) between the simulated and observed annual increments in winter SAT in Northeast China throughout the period 1965-2002,with a relative root mean square error of -7.9%.The prediction model makes a reasonable hindcast for 2003-08,with an average relative root mean square error of -7.2%.The prediction model can capture the in-creasing trend of winter SAT in Northeast China from 1965-2008.The results suggest that this approach to forecasting an annual increment in winter SAT in North-east China would be relevant in operational seasonal forecasts.

Enhancement of the Summer North Atlantic Oscillation Influence on Northern Hemisphere Air Temperature

This study investigates the relationship between the summer North Atlantic Oscillation （SNAO） and the simultaneous Northern Hemisphere （NH） land surface air temperature （SAT） by using the Climate Research Unit （CRU） data. The results show that the SNAO is related to NH land SAT, but this linkage has varied on decadal timescales over the last 52 years, with a strong connection appearing after the late 1970s, but a weak connection before. The mechanism governing the relationship between the SNAO and NH land SAT is discussed based on the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. The results indicate that such a variable relationship may result from changes of the SNAO mode around the late 1970s. The SNAO pattern was centered mainly over the North Atlantic before the late 1970s, and thus had a weak influence on the NH land SAT. But after the late 1970s, the SNAO pattern shifted eastward and its southern center was enhanced in magnitude and extent, which transported the SNAO signal to the North Atlantic surrounding continents and even to central East Asia via an upper level wave train along the Asian jet.

Evaluation of Surface Air Temperature Change over China and the Globe during the Twentieth Century in IAP AGCM4.0

Based on time series and linear trend analysis, the authors evaluated the performance of the fourth gen- eration atmospheric general circulation model developed at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences （IAP AGCM4.0）, in simulating surface air temperature （SAT） during the twentieth century over China and the globe. The numerical experiment is con- ducted by driving the model with the observed sea surface temperature and sea ice. It is shown that IAP AGCM4.0 can simulate the warming trend of the global SAT, with the major wanning regions in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere and the mid-latitudes of the South- ern Hemisphere. While the simulated trend over the whole globe is close to the observation, the model trader- estimates the observed trend over the continents. More- over, the model simulates the spatial distribution of SAT in China, with a bias of approximately -2℃ in eastern China, but with a more serious bias in western China. Compared with the global mean, however, the correlation coefficient between the simulation and observation in China is significantly lower, indicating that there is large uncertainty in simulating regional climate change.

Seasonal Variation in Air Temperature and Relative Humidity on Building Areas and in Green Spaces in Beijing, China

The cooling and humidifying effects of urban parks are an essential component of city ecosystems in terms of regulating microclimates or mitigating urban heat islands(UHIs).Air temperature and relative humidity are two main factors of thermal environmental comfort and have a critical impact on the urban environmental quality of human settlements.We measured the 2-m height air temperature and relative humidity at the Beijing Olympic Park and a nearby building roof for more than 1 year to elucidate seasonal variations in air temperature and relative humidity,as well as to investigate the outdoor thermal comfort.The results showed that the lawn of the park could,on average,reduce the air temperature by(0.80±0.19)℃,and increase the relative humidity by(5.24±2.91)% relative to the values measured at the building roof during daytime.During the nighttime,the lawn of the park reduced the air temperature by(2.64±0.64)℃ and increased the relative humidity by(10.77±5.20)%.The park was cooler and more humid than surrounding building area,especially in night period(more pronounced cooling with 1.84℃).Additionally,the lawn of the park could improve outdoor thermal comfort through its cooling and humidifying effects.The level of thermal comfort in the park was higher than that around the building roof for a total of 11 days annually in which it was above one or more thermal comfort levels(average reduced human comfort index of 0.92)except during the winter.