Grassland-type ecosystem stability in China differs under the influence of drought and wet events

Ecological stability is a core issue in ecological research and holds significant implications forhumanity. The increased frequency and intensity of drought and wet climate events resulting from climatechange pose a major threat to global ecological stability. Variations in stability among different ecosystemshave been confirmed, but it remains unclear whether there are differences in stability within the sameterrestrial vegetation ecosystem under the influence of climate events in different directions and intensities.China's grassland ecosystem includes most grassland types and is a good choice for studying this issue.This study used the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index-12 (SPEI-12) to identify thedirections and intensities of different types of climate events, and based on Normalized DifferenceVegetation Index (NDVI), calculated the resistance and resilience of different grassland types for 30consecutive years from 1990 to 2019 (resistance and resilience are important indicators to measurestability). Based on a traditional regression model, standardized methods were integrated to analyze theimpacts of the intensity and duration of drought and wet events on vegetation stability. The resultsshowed that meadow steppe exhibited the highest stability, while alpine steppe and desert steppe had thelowest overall stability. The stability of typical steppe, alpine meadow, temperate meadow was at anintermediate level. Regarding the impact of the duration and intensity of climate events on vegetationecosystem stability for the same grassland type, the resilience of desert steppe during drought was mainlyaffected by the duration. In contrast, the impact of intensity was not significant. However, alpine steppewas mainly affected by intensity in wet environments, and duration had no significant impact. Ourconclusions can provide decision support for the future grassland ecosystem governance.

Distribution characteristics and paleo-climatic significance of continental climate-sensitive sediments in the Late Cretaceous in China

The Cretaceous is a typical period for studying the greenhouse climate and the earth system interactions, and the world’s most extensive terrestrial strata are mainly in East Asia, especially in China. Continental sediments can effectively reflect the paleo-climate change, but the previous studies of the Late Cretaceous paleo-climate, based on the combined characteristics of continental climate-sensitive sediments, were barely found in China. To obtain the Late Cretaceous paleo-climate characteristics of China, the distribution characteristics of different continental climate-sensitive sediment types in the early, middle and Late Cretaceous in China were studied in detail. According to the distribution and combination characteristics and types of continental climate-sensitive sediments, seven climate types can be divided: 1) warm-humid and warm-dry climate;2) hot and dry climate;3) hot-dry and arid climate;4) hot-dry and semiarid climate;5) hot-dry and hot-wet climate;6) hot-dry and warm-humid climate;7) hot-dry and warm-dry climate. The results show that in the early Late Cretaceous, the hot and dry climate was the most widespread, followed by warm-humid and warm-dry climate, but the climate was drier than the paleo-climate of the previous study of Early Cretaceous. Hot and dry climate zone became wider in the Coniacian and Maastrichtian;furthermore, it covered Xinjiang to the east of China from east to west after the Santonian Period. The hot-dry and semiarid climate zone was nearly latitudinally distributed from the northwest to the southeast and it shows a further increase in aridification. Global geological events, paleogeographic features and regional tectonic evolution had significant impacts on the paleoclimate of China in the Late Cretaceous, such as global eruptive events of volcanoes led to the temperature increase in China in the early Late Cretaceous;coastal mountain ranges in southeastern China led to the drying of the Late Cretaceous climate in southern China;Xuefeng Mountains, Wuling Mountains, Nanling Mountains and Tai-hang Mountains were the dividing line between the hot and dry climate zone and hot-dry and arid climate zone in the early Late Cretaceous, and Altun Mountains were the dividing line between the southeastern section of the hot and dry climate zone in western China in the middle Late Cretaceous.

Impact of climate change on rice growth and yield in China:Analysis based on climate year type

Climate change threatens China’s rice production,making it crucial to assess the impact of climate change and climate year type(CYT)on rice production across regions to safeguard food security.The impact of climate change under nine CYTs with different combinations of temperature and precipitation on two rice cropping systems,including single rice and double rice(early and late rice)was evaluated.The results indicate that:(1)the Northeast region was expected to undergo the greatest warming of 2.03–2.48℃,and future climate conditions would be dominated by Warm-Humid,Warm-Normal,and Warm-Dry CYTs across all regions.(2)Climate change would significantly shorten anthesis days after sowing and maturity days after sowing of single rice by 6–12 days and 9–24 days,with little change observed for late rice(<1 day).Late rice yield suffered more from climate change compared to single and early rice yield,declining by 8.8%–16.13%.(3)Different CYTs exhibited varying impacts on rice yields.Yields were projected to decrease by approximately 4.765%to 18.645%in Warm-Humid,Warm-Normal,and Warm-Dry CYTs.Conversely,the Northeast region was anticipated to experience an increase in yield.(4)Relationships between rice yield and meteorological factors varied by region,variety,and CYT.Among the nine CYTs,high killing degree days,mean daily temperature,mean solar radiation and warm spell duration index were the main factors influencing changes in rice yield,explaining nearly 80%of yield change.Our results would help to develop adaptation strategies in different regions and rice cropping systems.

Diurnal variation of precipitable water vapor over Central and South America

Annual and seasonal diurnal precipitable water vapor(PWV)variations over Central and South America are analyzed for the period 2007-2013.PWV values were obtained from Global Navigation Satellite Systems(GNSS)observations of sixty-nine GNSS tracking stations.Histograms by climate categories show that PWV values for temperate,polar and cold dry climate have a positive skewed distribution and for tropical climates(except for monsoon subtype)show a negative skewed distribution.The diurnal PWV and surface temperatures(T)anomaly datasets are analyzed by using principal components analysis(PCA).The first two modes represent more than 90%of the PWV variability.The first PCA mode of PWV variability shows a maximum amplitude value in the late afternoon few hours later than the respective values for surface temperature(T),therefore the temperature and the surface conditions(to yield evaporation)could be the main agents producing this variability;PWV variability in inland stations are mainly represented by this mode.The second mode of PWV variability shows a maximum amplitude at midnight,a possible explanation of this behavior is the effect of the sea/valley breeze.The coastal and valley stations are affected by this mode in most cases.Finally,the"undefined"stations,surrounded by several water bodies,are mainly affected by the second mode with negative eigenvectors.In the seasonal analysis,both the undefined and valley stations constitute the main cases that show a sea or valley breeze only during some seasons,while the rest of the year they present a behavior according to their temperature and the surface conditions.As a result,the PCA proves to be a useful numerical tool to represent the main sub-daily PWV variabilities.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY:DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR ENERGY-EFFICIENCY OF HIGH-RISE OFFICE BUILDINGS

Tall buildings are being designed and built across a wide range of cities.A poorly designed tall building can tremendously increase the building’s appetite for energy.Therefore,this paper aims to determine the design strategies that help a high-rise office building to be more energy efficient.For this purpose,a comparative study on twelve case buildings in three climate groups(temperate,sub-tropical&tropical)was performed.The exterior envelope,building form and orientation,service core placement,plan layout,and special design elements like atria and sky gardens were the subject of investigation.effectiveness of different design strategies for reducing the cooling,heating,ventilation and electric lighting energy usage.Finally,lessons from these buildings’were defined for the three climates.Furthermore,a compari-son of building energy performance data with international benchmarks confirmed that in temperate and sub-tropical climates sustainable design strategies for high-rise buildings were performing well,as a result leading to lower energy consump-tion.However,for the tropics the design of high-rise buildings needs additional consideration.