Temporal and Spatial Variations in the Climate Controls of Vegetation Dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau during 1982–2011

The ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau is highly susceptible to climate change. Currently, there is little discussion on the temporal changes in the link between climatic factors and vegetation dynamics in this region under the changing climate.By employing Normalized Difference Vegetation Index data, the Climatic Research Unit temperature and precipitation data,and the in-situ meteorological observations, we report the temporal and spatial variations in the relationships between the vegetation dynamics and climatic factors on the Plateau over the past three decades. The results show that from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, vegetation dynamics in the central and southeastern part of the Plateau appears to show a closer relationship with precipitation prior to the growing season than that of temperature. From the mid-1990s, the temperature rise seems to be the key climatic factor correlating vegetation growth in this region. The effects of increasing temperature on vegetation are spatially variable across the Plateau: it has negative impacts on vegetation activity in the southwestern and northeastern part of the Plateau, and positive impacts in the central and southeastern Plateau. In the context of global warming, the changing climate condition(increasing precipitation and significant rising temperature) might be the potential contributor to the shift in the climatic controls on vegetation dynamics in the central and southeastern Plateau.

Change in summer daily precipitation and its relation with air temperature in Northwest China during 1957–2016

On the basis of the summer daily-precipitation meteorological data collected from weather stations across Northwest China from 1957 to 2016, this study evaluated the trends in 12-daily precipitation indices in the summer season and their relations with air temperature. Precipitation-event intensity, which was averaged over the total study area, increased in recent decades although the total precipitation continuously decreased. In particular, intensity generally decreased in the northern and eastern parts and increased in the southern and western parts of the study area. None of the 12 precipitation indices was significantly correlated with temperature in Xinjiang; R95 N(number of events with precipitation greater than the long-term95 th percentile), RX1 day(greatest 1-day total precipitation), PI(simple daily intensity), and R10(number of heavy-precipitation days) were significantly and positively correlated with temperature in Qinghai–Gansu. However, low correlation coefficients were observed. In the Loess Plateau, P(total precipitation), WS(maximum number of consecutive wet days),R95 N, and WD(number of wet days) were significantly and negatively correlated with temperature, whereas Gini(gini concentration index) and DS(maximum number of consecutive dry days) were significantly and positively correlated with temperature. Results of the study suggested that climate shift was evident in terms of daily precipitation, and the study area faced new challenges involving precipitation-event intensity increasing in the southwestern part and unevenly dispersing in the northwest.

荒漠化防治措施如何影响我国干旱半干旱地区植被恢复和农牧民收入?

我国潜在荒漠化地区以流动、半流动、半固定和固定沙地为主体,主要位于东北地区西部、华北地区北部和西北地区西部年降水量<400 mm的干旱、半干旱地区,总面积约120万平方公里.该区域气候干旱、植被稀疏、风沙活动强烈、沙尘暴频发,生存环境严酷,经济相对落后,是受人类活动和气候变化双重影响的生态脆弱区.同时,该地区的人类活动历史悠久,农业开发和弃耕还草/还牧在此处多次交替出现.目前,这一区域超过60%的土地沿用传统畜牧和农业耕作方式进行生产[1],承载着约4800万人口的生产和生活.自2000年初期实行“退耕还林/还草”和围封禁牧的荒漠化防治政策和措施以来,各级政府投资超过7800亿元,在抑制沙尘暴、减少水土流失、促进生态恢复等方面取得了显著成效[2~4].然而,潜在荒漠化地区近20年来植被显著恢复的贡献主要来自于自然环境变化还是人类干预,相关的荒漠化防治措施对区域经济和可持续发展又带来了怎样的影响等问题,尚缺少系统科学的评估.

The effects of sorting by aeolian processes on the geochemical characteristics of surface materials： a wind tunnel experiment

The geochemical characteristics of aeolian and surface materials in potential source areas of dust are frequently employed in environmental reconstructions as proxies of past climate and as source tracers of aeolian sediments deposited in downwind areas. However, varia- tions in the geochemical characteristics of these aeolian deposits that result from near-surface winds are currently poorly understood. In this study, we collected surface samples from the Ala Shah Plateau （a major potential dust source area in Central Asia） to determine the influence of aeolian processes on the geochemical characteristics of aeolian transported materials. Correlation analyses show that compared with surface materials, the elements in transported materials （e.g., Cu, As, Pb, Mn, Zn, Al, Ca, Fe, Ga, K, Mg, P, Rb, Co, Cr, Na, Nb, Si, and Zr） were subjected to significant sorting by aeolian processes, and the sorting also varied among different particle size fractions and elements. Variations in wind velocity were significantly correlated with the contents of Cr, Ga, Sr, Ca, Y, Nd, Zr, Nb, Ba, and Al, and with the Zr/Al, Zr/Rb, K/Ca, Sr/Ca, Rb/Sr, and Ca/Al ratios. Given the great variation in the geochemical characteristics of materials transported under different aeolian processes relative to those of the source materials, these results indicate that considerable uncertainty may be introduced to analyses by using surface materials to trace the potential source areas of aeolian deposits that accumulate in downwind areas.