Recent Progress in Studies on Land Cover Change and Its Regional Climatic Effects over China during Historical Times

The recent progresses on the reconstruction of historical land cover and the studies on regional climatic effects to temperature, precipitation, and the East Asian Monsoon across China were reviewed. Findings show that the land cover in China has been significantly modified by human activities over the last several thousands years, mainly through cropland expansion and forest clearance. The cropland over traditional Chinese agricultural areas increased from 5.32×10^5 km^2 in the mid-17th century to 8.27×10^5 km^2 in the mid-20th century, while the forest area over the Chinese mainland had been reduced by 1.66×10^6 km^2 during the last 300 years. These changes of land cover have been detected as an important driving force of climate change by simulations of climatic effects based on various climate models （including RegCM3, RegCM2-NCC, RIEMS version1, MM5 version 2, and AGCM＋SSiB） with reconstructed historical land cover data or by contrasting current land cover to potential natural vegetation. The human-induced land cover changes over China have led to the enhancement of the East Asian winter monsoon, as well as cooling in winter and warming in summer approximately since 1700. However, the simulation results on annual mean temperature, precipitation, and the East Asian summer monsoon varied from model to model, which cannot be simply attributed to certain forcing so far, but undoubtedly, using different land cover datasets in various simulations played a key role. Thus, developing different regional scales with high time resolution more accurate gridded historical land cover datasets on is needed in the future.

Direct Radiative Forcing and Climatic Effects of Aerosols over East Asia by RegCM3

The authors used a high-resolution regional climate model （RegCM3） coupled with a chemistry/ aerosol module to simulate East Asian climate in 2006 and to test the climatic impacts of aerosols on regional- scale climate. The direct radiative forcing and climatic effects of aerosols （dust, sulfate, black carbon, and organic carbon） were discussed. The results indicated that aerosols generally produced negative radiative forcing at the top-of-the-atmosphere （TOA） over most areas of East Asia. The radiative forcing induced by aerosols exhibited significant seasonal and regional variations, with the strongest forcing occurring in summer. The aerosol feed- backs on surface air temperature and precipitation were clear. Surface cooling dominated features over the East Asian continental areas, which varied in the approximate range of-0.5 to -2℃ with the maximum up to -3℃ in summer over the deserts of West China. The aerosols induced complicated variations of precipitation. Except in summer, the rainfall generally varied in the range of-1 to 1 mm d^-1 over most areas of China.

Impact of Different East Asian Summer Monsoon Circulations on Aerosol-Induced Climatic Effects

The different spatial distributions of aerosol-induced direct radiative forcing and climatic effects in a weak （2003） and a strong （2006） East Asian summer monsoon （EASM） circulation were simulated using a high-resolution regional climate model （RegCM3）.Results showed that the atmospheric circulations of summer monsoon have direct relations with transport of aerosols and their climatic effects.Both the top-of-the-atmosphere （TOA） and the surface-negative radiative forcing of aerosols were stronger in weak EASM circulations.The main difference in aerosol-induced negative forcing in two summers varied between 2 and 14 W m-2 from the Sichuan Basin to North China,where a maximum in aerosol-induced negative forcing was also noticed in the EASM-dominated areas.The spatial difference in the simulated aerosol optical depth （AOD） in two summers generally showed the similar pictures.Surface cooling effects induced by aerosols were spatially more uniform in weak EASM circulations and cooler by about 1-4.5℃.A preliminary analysis here indicated that a weaker low-level wind speed not conducive to the transport and diffusion of aerosols could make more contributions to the differences in the two circulations.

THE CLIMATIC JUMP OF THE WESTERN PACIFIC WARM POOL AND ITS CLIMATIC EFFECTS

The climatic jump of the western Pacific warm pool and its climatic effects were analyzed using the SST (COADS, NCEP) datasets. The results show that the warm pool has significant interdecadal variability with periods of 10 to 20 years and four major climatic jumps with periods of 40 to 50 years for a time dating back for more than 100 years, which happened in the 1910s, 1930s, 1950s and 1980抯. The warm pool jumps have important climatic effects. After the jumps,the SST increases by about 0.5C in central and eastern tropical Pacific; the Pacific subtropical high at 500 hPa strengthens and goes southwestward, the precipitation bands tend to be in southern China. The results also show that El Ni駉 event will happen more often than the La Ni馻 event when the warm pool anomalously develops, and the La Ni馻 event will happen more often than the El Ni駉 event when the warm pool anomalously declines. Over the recent 40-to-50 year period,the warm pool is still in its strengthening stage and it is possible that the drought in northern China will continue in the first decade of 21st century.

Indirect Radiative and Climatic Effects of Sulfate and Organic Carbon Aerosols over East Asia Investigated by RIEMS

The indirect radiative and climatic effects of sulfate and organic carbon aerosols over East Asia were investigated using a Regional Integrated Environment Model System (RIEMS) with an empirical aerosol-cloud parameterization.The first indirect radiative forcing was negative and ranged from-9-0 W m-2 in the domain.The maximum cooling,up to-9 W m-2,occurred in the Chongqing District in winter,whereas the cooling areas were larger during summer than in winter.Organic carbon (OC) aerosols were more abundant in winter than in summer,whereas the sulfate concentration during summer was much higher than during winter.The concentrations of sulfate and OC were comparable in winter,and sulfate played a dominant role in determining indirect radiative forcing in summer,whereas in winter,both sulfate and OC were important.The regional mean indirect radiative forcings were-0.73 W m-2 and-0.41 W m-2 in summer and winter,respectively.The surface cooling caused by indirect effects was more obvious in winter than that in summer.The ground temperature decreased by ～1.2 K in most areas of eastern China in winter,whereas in summer,the temperature decreased (～-1.5 K) in some regions,such as the Yangtze River region,but increased (～0.9 K) in the areas between the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers.In winter,the precipitation decreased by 0-6 mm in most areas of eastern China,but in summer,alternating bands of increasing (up to 80 mm) and decreasing (～-80 mm) precipitation appeared in eastern China.

Analysis of Summer Cold Vortex Activity Anomalies in Northeastern China and Their Relationship with Regional Precipitation and Temperature

The Northeastern China cold vortex(NCCV)is one type of strong cyclonic vortex that occurs near Northeastern China(NEC),and NCCV activities are typically accompanied by a series of hazardous weather.This paper employed an automatic algorithm to identify the NCCVs from 1979 to 2018 and analyzed their circulation patterns and climatic impacts by using the defined NCCV intensity index(NCCVI).The analysis revealed that the NCCV activities in summer exhibited a strong inter-annual variability,with an obvious periodicity of 3-4 years and 6-7 years,but without significant trends.In years when the NCCVI was high,NEC experienced negative geopotential height anomalies,cyclonic circulation,and cooler temperature anomalies,which were conducive to the maintenance and development of NCCV activities.Furthermore,large amounts of water vapor converged in NEC through two transportation routes as the NCCVs intensified,leading to a significant positive(negative)correlation with the summer precipitation(surface temperature)in NEC.The Atlantic sea surface temperature(SST)anomalies were closely related to summer NCCV activities.As the Atlantic SST rose,large amounts of surface sensible and latent heat flux were transported into the lower troposphere,inducing a positive geopotential height anomaly that occurred on the east side of the heat source.As a result,an eastward diverging flow was formed in the upper troposphere and propagated downstream,i.e.,the eastward propagating Rossby wave train,which eventually led to a coupled circulation in the Ural Mountains and NEC,as well as more intensive NCCV activities in summer.

Agriculture Development-induced Surface Albedo Changes and Climatic Implications Across Northeastern China

To improve the understandings on regional climatic effects of past human-induced land cover changes,the surface albedo changes caused by conversions from natural vegetation to cropland were estimated across northeastern China over the last 300 years,and its climatic effects were simulated by using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model.Essential natural vegetation records compiled from historical documents and regional optimal surface albedo dataset were used.The results show that the surface albedo decreased by 0.01-0.03 due to conversions from grassland to cropland in the Northeast China Plain and it increased by 0.005-0.015 due to conversions from forests to cropland in the surrounding mountains.As a consequence,in the Northeast China Plain,the surface net radiation increased by 4-8 W/m 2,2-5 W/m 2,and 1-3 W/m 2,and the climate was therefore warmed by 0.1℃-0.2℃、0.1℃-0.2℃、 0.1℃-0.3 ℃ in the spring,autumn and winter,respectively.In the surrounding mountain area,the net radiation decreased by less than 1.5 W/m 2,and the climate was therefore cooled too slight to be detected.In summer,effects of surface albedo changes on climate were closely associated with moisture dynamics,such as evapotranspiration and cloud,instead of being merely determined by surface radiation budget.The simulated summer climatic effects have large uncertainties.These findings demonstrate that surface albedo changes resulted in warming climate effects in the non-rainy seasons in Northeast China Plain through surface radiation processes while the climatic effects in summer could hardly be concluded so far.

Modeling Analysis of Factors Influencing Wind-Borne Seed Dispersal: A Case Study on Dandelion

A weed is a plant that thrives in areas of human disturbance, such as gardens, fields, pastures, waysides, and waste places where it is not intentionally cultivated. Dispersal affects community dynamics and vegetation response to global change. The process of seed disposal is influenced by wind, which plays a crucial role in determining the distance and probability of seed dispersal. Existing models of seed dispersal consider wind direction but fail to incorporate wind intensity. In this paper, a novel seed disposal model was proposed in this paper, incorporating wind intensity based on relevant references. According to various climatic conditions, including temperate, arid, and tropical regions, three specific regions were selected to establish a wind dispersal model that accurately reflects the density function distribution of dispersal distance. Additionally, dandelions growth is influenced by a multitude of factors, encompassing temperature, humidity, climate, and various environmental variables that necessitate meticulous consideration. Based on Factor Analysis model, which completely considers temperature, precipitation, solar radiation, wind, and land carrying capacity, a conclusion is presented, indicating that the growth of seeds is primarily influenced by plant attributes and climate conditions, with the former exerting a relatively stronger impact. Subsequently, the remaining two plants were chosen based on seed weight, yielding consistent conclusion.

The Effects of Climate,Soil and Cultivar on the Content of Surface Trichome Exudates from Fresh Flue-cured Leaves

[Objective] The aim was to study the effect of climate and soil on the content of surface trichome exudates from fresh flue-cured leaves. [Method] The experiment was conducted in 2009 in Longgang, Weining and Tianzhu of Guizhou Province with flue-cured tobacco variety Yun 85. Mature tobacco leaves were taken from lower, middle and upper plant positions respectively and major cuticular com-ponents of the leaves were extracted with methylene chloride and their chemical compositions were analyzed with GC-MS. [Result] The result showed that there was large difference among trichome exudates of leaves grown under different climatic conditions. The leaf trichome exudates from Tianzhu were quite higher than those from Weining and Longgang, and trichome exudates difference between Tianzhu and Longgang was significant. Soil conditions had considerable effect on the content of tobacco leaf surface trichome exudates, leaf from Longgang soil had highest con-tent, fol owed by Tianzhu soil leaf, Weining soil leaf had lowest content. Under vari-ous climatic conditions, the contents of leaf trichome exudates of same soil were in-consistent, indicating the presence of certain climate and soil factor interaction; The contents of leaf trichome exudates from four cultivars in Longgang showed large difference, Nanjiang 3 was the lowest, fol owed by K326, Guiyan 201 was high, and Yunyan85 the highest. The content of leaf trichome exudates of Yunyan85 was more than two times of that of Nanjiang 3. [Conclusion] The Effect of climate factor on the content of leaf trichome exudates was greater than that of cultivar, which was then larger than soil condition.

Climatic change: Causal correlations over the last 240 Ma

The climate of the Earth has been oscillating between mega warm periods and mega cold periods for 3,000 Ma. Each mega cold period included alternating major warm and cold events. The present mega cold period commenced about 44 Ma in the polar re- gions as the seas cooled following the loss of the circum-equatorial ocean. Before then, a mega warm period lasted for more than 200 Ma. The frequency of the major cold events within the present mega cold period is increasing, with each continent being un- der the influence of a different set of climatic controls. There are many causes of these shifts in climate, ranging from fluctuating meridional ocean currents, rearrangement of tectonic plates, and changes in ocean gateways. These are enhanced by a combination of Milankovitch cycles and many other medium to small oscillations and cyclic controls that cause the daily, monthly, and season- al fluctuations in weather. Examples are given of how these can cause a change from cold to warm events, or vice versa, at pre- sent-day or mega scales, aided by eustatic changes in sea levels and changes in the distribution of air masses, sea ice, and snow.

A Modeling Study of the Effects of Direct Radiative Forcing Due to Carbonaceous Aerosol on the Climate in East Asia

The study investigated the effects of global direct radiative forcing due to carbonaceous aerosol on the climate in East Asia, using the CAM3 developed by NCAR. The results showed that carbonaceous aerosols cause negative forcing at the top of the atmosphere （TOA） and surface under clear sky conditions, but positive forcing at the TOA and weak negative forcing at the surface under all sky conditions. Hence, clouds could change the sign of the direct radiative forcing at the TOA, and weaken the forcing at the surface. Carbonaceous aerosols have distinct effects on the summer climate in East Asia. In southern China and India, it caused the surface temperature to increase, but the total cloud cover and precipitation to decrease. However, the opposite effects are caused for most of northern China and Bangladesh. Given the changes in temperature, vertical velocity, and surface streamflow caused by carbonaceous aerosol in this simulation, carbonaceous aerosol could also induce summer precipitation to decrease in southern China but increase in northern China.

Indirect Radiative Forcing and Climatic Effect of the Anthropogenic Nitrate Aerosol on Regional Climate of China

The regional climate model （RegCM3） and a tropospheric atmosphere chemistry model （TACM） were coupled, thus a regional climate chemistry modeling system （RegCCMS） was constructed, which was applied to investigate the spatial distribution of anthropogenic nitrate aerosols, indirect radiative forcing, as well as its climatic effect over China. TACM includes the thermodynamic equilibrium model ISORROPIA and a condensed gas-phase chemistry model. Investigations show that the concentration of nitrate aerosols is relatively high over North and East China with a maximum of 29μg m-3 in January and 8 μg m-3 in July. Due to the influence of air temperature on thermodynamic equilibrium, wet scavenging of precipitation and the monsoon climate, there are obvious seasonal differences in nitrate concentrations. The average indirect radiative forcing at the tropopause due to nitrate aerosols is -1.63 W m 2 in January and -2.65 W m 2 in July, respectively. In some areas, indirect radiative forcing reaches -10 W m-2. Sensitivity tests show that nitrate aerosols make the surface air temperature drop and the precipitation reduce on the national level. The mean changes in surface air temperature and precipitation are 0.13 K and -0.01 mm d-1 in January and -0.09 K and -0.11 mm d-1 in July, respectively, showing significant differences in different regions.

A Modeling Study of the Climate Effects of Sulfate and Carbonaceous Aerosols over China

In this paper, the RIEMS 2.0 model is used to simulate the distribution of sulfate, black carbon, and organic carbon aerosols over China （16.2°-44.1°N, 93.4°-132.4°E） in 1998. The climate effects of these three anthropogenic aerosols are also simulated. The results are summarized as follows： （1） The regional average column burdens of sulfate, BC, OC, and SOC were 5.9, 0.24, 2.4, and 0.49 mg m-2, with maxima of 33.9, 1.48, 7.3, and 1.1 mg m-2, respectively. The column burden and surface concentration of secondary organic carbon accounted for about 20% and 7%, respectively, of the total organic carbon in eastern China. （2） The radiative forcings of sulfate, organic carbon, and black carbon at the top of the atmosphere were -1.24, -0.6, and 0.16 W m 2 respectively, with extremes of -5.25, -2.6, and 0.91 W m-2. （3） The surface air temperature changes caused by sulfate, organic carbon, and black carbon were -0.07, -0.04, and 0.01 K, respectively. The air temperature increase caused by black carbon at 850 hPa was higher than that at the surface. The net effect of the three kinds of anthropogenic aerosols together decreased the annual average temperature by -0.075 K; the maximum value was -0.3 K. （4） Black carbon can reduce the precipitation in arid and semi-arid areas of northern China and increase the precipitation in wet and semi-wet areas of southern China. The average precipitation increase caused by black carbon in China was 0.003 mm d^-1. The net effect of the three kinds of anthropogenic aerosols was to decrease the precipitation over China by 0.008 mmd ^-1.

Numerical Simulation on Climate Effects of Freezing-Thawing Processes Using CCM3

A parameterization of soil freezing-thawing physics for use in the land-surface model of the National Center for Atmospheric Research(NCAR) Community Climate Model(CCM3) is developed and evaluated.The new parameterization scheme has improved the representation of physical processes in the existing land surface model.Numerical simulations using CCM3 with improved land-surface processes and with the original land-surface processes are compared against the NCEP reanalysis.It is found that the CCM3 version using the improved land surface model shows significant improvements in simulating precipitation in China during the summer season,the general circulation over East Asia,and wind fields over the Tibet Plateau.For the summer season,the improved model was able to better simulate the Indian summer monsoon components,including the mean northerly wind in the upper troposphere and mean southerly wind in the lower troposphere.

Effects of irrigation on precipitation in the arid regions of Xinjiang,China

Soil moisture is an important parameter for the interaction between soil and atmosphere. It is the sec- ond important factor that influences climate change, next to sea surface temperature （SST）. Most previous studies focused on the monsoon regions in East China, and only a few laid emphases on arid environments. In Xinjiang, which is located in Northwest China, the climate is typically arid and semi-arid. During the past 20 years, the pre- cipitation in Xinjiang has shown a significant increasing trend, and it is closely related to oasis irrigation. This paper aims at discussing whether abnormal soil moisture in spring can be the signal to forecast summer precipitation. The effects of abnormal soil moisture due to farm irrigation in spring in arid environments on regional climate are inves- tigated by using a regional climate model （RegCM3）. The results indicate that positive soil moisture anomaly in irrigated cropland surface in May led to an increase in precipitation in spring as well as across the whole summer. The impact could last for about four months. The effects of soil moisture on the surface air temperature showed a time-lagging trend. The summer air temperature declined by a maximum amplitude of 0.8℃. The increased soil moisture could enhance evaporation and ascending motion in the low troposphere, which brought in more precipi- tation. The soil moisture affected regional weather and climate mainly by altering the surface sensible and latent heat fluxes.

Formation and Variation of the Atmospheric Heat Source over the Tibetan Plateau and Its Climate Effects

To cherish the memory of the late Professor Duzheng YE on what would have been his 100 th birthday, and to celebrate his great accomplishment in opening a new era of Tibetan Plateau（TP） meteorology, this review paper provides an assessment of the atmospheric heat source（AHS） over the TP from different data resources, including observations from local meteorological stations, satellite remote sensing data, and various reanalysis datasets. The uncertainty and applicability of these heat source data are evaluated. Analysis regarding the formation of the AHS over the TP demonstrates that it is not only the cause of the atmospheric circulation, but is also a result of that circulation. Based on numerical experiments, the review further demonstrates that land–sea thermal contrast is only one part of the monsoon story. The thermal forcing of the Tibetan–Iranian Plateau plays a significant role in generating the Asian summer monsoon（ASM）, i.e., in addition to pumping water vapor from sea to land and from the lower to the upper troposphere, it also generates a subtropical monsoon–type meridional circulation subject to the angular momentum conservation, providing an ascending-air large-scale background for the development of the ASM.

The Effects of Land Cover Change on Regional Climate over the Eastern Part of Northwest China

A regional climate model （RegCM4） is em- ployed to investigate the impacts of land use/cover change （LUCC） on the climate over the eastern part of Northwest China （ENW） in the periods of 2001 and 2011. The re- sults indicated that the LUCC in ENW, which was char-acterized by desert retreat, reforestation, and farmland expansion, led to significant local changes in surface air temperature （within -0.3℃） and slight regional changes in precipitation （within -15%） in summer. In the desert retreat area, the net absorbed shortwave radiation had a greater influence than evaporative cooling, leading to increases in the daily mean and maximum temperature. Besides, the daily mean and maximum temperatures in- creased in the reforestation area but decreased in the farmland expansion area. As surface albedo showed no significant change in these regions, the temperature in- crease in the reforestation area can be attributed to a decrease in evaporation, while the opposite effect appears to have been the case in the farmland expansion area.

Advances in the Study of Black Carbon Effects on Climate

Black carbon （BC） aerosols can strongly absorb solar radiation in very broad spectral wavebands, from the visible to the infrared. As a potential factor contributing to global warming, BC aerosols not only directly change the radiation balance of the earth-atmosphere system, but also indirectly affect global or regional climate by acting as cloud conden- sation nuclei or ice nuclei to alter cloud mierophysical properties. Here, recent progresses in the studies of radiative forcing due to BC and its climate effects are reviewed. The uncertainties in current researches are discussed and some suggestions are provided for future investigations.

Effects of Sunspot on the Multi-Decadal Climate Projections

Most model generated projections of climate change for the future decades only consider anthro- pogenic activities. It is hard to think about the effects of solar activity and volcano effects, because the pre- dictions of both solar activity and volcano effects are difficult. But as we know, the sun is the source of en- ergy for the Earth＇s climate system, and observations show it to be a variable star.

A Modeling Study of Effective Radiative Forcing and Climate Response Due to Tropospheric Ozone

This study simulates the effective radiative forcing （ERF） of tropospheric ozone from 1850 to 2013 and its effects on global climate using an aerosol-climate coupled model, BCC_AGCM2.0. I_CUACE/Aero, in combination with OMI （Ozone Monitoring Instrument） satellite ozone data. According to the OMI observations, the global annual mean tropospheric col- umn ozone （TCO） was 33.9 DU in 2013, and the largest TCO was distributed in the belts between 30°N and 45°N and at approximately 30°S; the annual mean TCO was higher in the Northern Hemisphere than that in the Southern Hemisphere; and in boreal summer and autumn, the global mean TCO was higher than in winter and spring. The simulated ERF due to the change in tropospheric ozone concentration from 1850 to 2013 was 0.46 W m-2, thereby causing an increase in the global annual mean surface temperature by 0.36°C, and precipitation by 0.02 mm d-1 （the increase of surface temperature had a significance level above 95%）. The surface temperature was increased more obviously over the high latitudes in both hemispheres, with the maximum exceeding 1.4°C in Siberia. There were opposite changes in precipitation near the equator, with an increase of 0.5 mm d- 1 near the Hawaiian Islands and a decrease of about -0.6 mm d- 1 near the middle of the Indian Ocean.