Average Annual Temperature Changes in the Holocene in China

Abstract: In 1876 Blytt proposed a post-glacial climatic classification, maintaining that the then temperature fluctuated 1–2°C higher or lower than that today. Lamb (1969) held that in Europe “the axis of the subtropical high pressure belt was generally displaced north by about 10° latitudes” during the Hypsithermal and that the temperature was three to six times higher than that in the postglacial period.

Arctic sea ice in CMIP5 climate model projections and their seasonal variability

This paper is focused on the seasonality change of Arctic sea ice extent （SIE） from 1979 to 2100 using newly available simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 （CMIP5）. A new approach to compare the simulation metric of Arctic SIE between observation and 31 CMIP5 models was established. The approach is based on four factors including the climatological average, linear trend of SIE, span of melting season and annual range of SIE. It is more objective and can be popularized to other comparison of models. Six good models （GFDL-CM3, CESM1-BGC, MPI-ESM-LR, ACCESS-1.0, HadGEM2-CC, and HadGEM2-AO in turn） are found which meet the criterion closely based on above approach. Based on ensemble mean of the six models, we found that the Arctic sea ice will continue declining in each season and firstly drop below 1 million km2 （defined as the ice-free state） in September 2065 under RCP4.5 scenario and in September 2053 under RCP8.5 scenario. We also study the seasonal cycle of the Arctic SIE and find out the duration of Arctic summer （melting season） will increase by about I00 days under RCP4.5 scenario and about 200 days under RCPS.5 scenario relative to current circumstance by the end of the 21st century. Asymmetry of the Arctic SIE seasonal cycle with later freezing in fall and early melting in spring, would be more apparent in the future when the Arctic climate approaches to ＂tipping point＂, or when the ice-free Arctic Ocean appears. Annual range of SIE （seasonal melting ice extent） will increase almost linearly in the near future 30-40 years before the Arctic appears ice-free ocean, indicating the more ice melting in summer, the more ice freezing in winter, which may cause more extreme weather events in both winter and summer in the future years.

Primary Study on Quantitative Reconstruction of Middle-Late Eocene Climate in Jianghan Basin

This paper reports our primary effort in the quantitative reconstruction ofpaleoclimate based on the thrine in phytoecology of the affinity parent plants in the stratigraphicpollen records. The Eocene pollen data come from our former study on the Mingjia borehole 1 in theJianghan basin. The fluctuating trend in the parameter curve of climate shows that the climate inthe Middle Eocene in the Jianghan basin was more or less comparable with that of the present22°―26°N, characteristic of a humid, semi-humid central-southern subtropical climate. The annualtemperature at that time dropped by 1 ℃― 4 ℃ in the Late Eocene, approximately equal to that ofthe present 23°―28°N of northern-central subtropical climate. However, the climate composite atthat time, characterized by higher temperature, small annual range and big fluctuation inprecipitation, was quite different from the present one. The average temperature in January in theMiddle Eocene, higher than that of today, ranged between 5 ℃ and 9 ℃, indicating that no effect ofwinter monsoon occurred in the Middle Eocene, though such an effect may have occurred occasionallyin the Late Eocene. Major temperature decline is recognized at the depth of 2 100 m in the borehole,as was indicated by the decline in average January temperature, the increase in annual range, andthe increase in the deciduous broad-leaved types of trees in the spore-pollen assemblage. The sharpfluctuation in the annual precipitation, usually raging from 300 to 1 700 mm, was favorable for themigration and accumulation of salty deposit. When the precipitation was lower than 1 000 mm,ephemera shrub increased at the same depth as that of the salty deposit. It is, therefore, deducedthat the formation of the salty deposit was attributed mainly to the dry and hot environment in thehigh mountains and deep basins. The small annual precipitation and the intense fluctuation arefavorable for the sustainable accumulation of the salts, which is different from the present saltyaccumulation in the Northwest China.

Elevational patterns of temperature and humidity in the middle Tianshan Mountain area in Central Asia

The vertical distribution of vegetation types along an elevational gradient in mountain areas largely depends on the elevational changes in air temperature and humidity. In this study, we presented the seasonal and diurnal variations in the elevational gradients of air temperature and humidity on the southern and northern slopes in the middle Tianshan Mountain Range using data collected throughout the year via HOBO data loggers. The measurements were conducted at 12 different elevations from 1548 to 3277 m from September 2004 to August 2005. The results showed that the annual mean air temperature decreased along the elevational gradients with temperature lapse rates of(0.71±0.20)°C/100 m and(0.59±0.05)°C/100 m on the northern and southern slopes, respectively. The annual mean absolute humidity significantly decreased with increasing elevation on the northern slope but showed no significant trend on the southern slope. The annual mean relative humidity did not show a significant trend on the northern slope but increased with increasing elevation on the southern slope. The mean air temperature lapse rate exhibited significant seasonal variation, which is steeper insummer and shallower in winter, and this value varied between 0.37°C/100 m and 0.75°C/100 m on the southern slope and between 0.30°C/100 m and 1.02°C/100 m on the northern slope. The mean absolute and relative humidity also exhibited significant seasonal variations on both slopes, with the maximum occurring in summer and the minimum occurring in winter or spring. The monthly diurnal range of air temperature on both slopes was higher in spring than in winter. The annual range of air temperature on the southern slope was higher than that on the northern slope. Our results suggest that significant spatiotemporal variations in humidity and temperature lapse rate are useful when analyzing the relationships between species range sizes and climate in mountain areas.