Glacier changes in the eastern Nyainqêntanglha Range of Tibetan Plateau from 1975 to 2013

Maritime-type glaciers in the eastern Nyainqêntanglha Range, located in the southeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, are an important water source for downstream residents and ecological systems. To better understand the variability of glaciers in this region, we used the band ratio threshold（TM3/TM5 for the Landsat TM /ETM＋ and TM4/TM6 for Landsat OLI） to extract glacier outlines in ~1999 and ~2013. After that, we also generated a series of glacier boundaries and monitored glacier variations in the past 40 years with the help of the Chinese Glacier Inventory data（1975） and Landsat TM, ETM＋ and OLI data. The total glacier area decreased by 37.69 ± 2.84% from 1975 to 2013. The annual percentage area change（APAC） was ~1.32% a-1 and ~1.29% a-1 in the periods 1975-1999 and 1999-2013, respectively. According to the lag theory, the reaction time is probably about 10 years and we discuss the variations of temperature and precipitation between 1965 and 2011. Temperature and precipitation increased between 1965 and 2011 at a rate of 0.34°C /10 a and 15.4 mm/10 a, respectively. Extensive meteorological data show that the glacier shrinkage rate over the period may be mainly due to increasing air temperature, while the increasing precipitation partly made up for the mass loss of glacier ice resulting from increasing temperature may also lead to the low APAC between 1999 and 2013. The lag theory suggests that glacier shrinkage may accelerate in the next 10 years. Small glaciers were more sensitive to climate change, and there was a normal distribution between glacier area and elevation. Glaciers shrank in all aspects, and south aspects diminished faster than others.

Analysis on Change Characteristics of Diurnal Temperature Range in Benxi County from 1958 to 2010

Based on annual mean maximum and minimum temperatures,diurnal temperature range,precipitation,sunshine,total cloud cover and water barometric pressure data in Benxi County from 1958 to 2010,using statistical analysis,the results show that the annual and seasonal diurnal temperature ranges present significant decreasing tendencies,and the reducing tendency is the most remarkable in winter. Autumn reducing tendency is stronger than that in spring,and it is the weakest in summer. Annual and seasonal average temperatures,average maximum and minimum temperatures all present the remarkable rising trends. Rising trend of the minimum temperature is more significant than that of the maximum temperature. The monthly mean diurnal temperature range also presents reducing tendency,and the most reducing scope appear in January and February. Annual and season diurnal temperature range changes are related to sunshine,mean minimum temperature,mean maximum temperature,precipitation,total cloud cover and water barometric pressure,but various essential factors are different in each season. Annual mean temperature,annual mean minimum temperature,annual mean maximum temperature and annual diurnal temperature range all have sudden changes,but the age is inconsistent.

Are Polyploid Species Less Vulnerable to Climate Change? A Simulation Study in North American Crataegus

Understanding the mechanisms underlying plant responses to climate change is an important step toward developing effective mitigation strategies. Polyploidy is an important evolutionary trait that can influence the capacity of plants to adapt to climate change. The environmental flexibility of polyploids suggests their resiliency to climate change, however, such hypotheses have not yet received empirical evidence. To understand how ploidy level may influence response to climate change, we modeled the current and future distribution of 54 Crataegus species under moderate to severe environments and compared the range change between diploids and polyploids. The majority of studied species are predicted to experience considerable range expansion. We found a negative interaction between ploidy and ecoregions in determining the response to climate change. In extreme environments, polyploids are projected to experience a higher range expansion than diploids with climate change, while the opposite is true for moderate environments. The range expansion of Crataegus species can be attributed to their tolerance for a wide range of environmental conditions. Despite the higher tolerance of polyploids to extreme environments, they do not necessarily outperform diploids in moderate environments, which can be attributed to the varying nature of species interactions along a stress gradient.

Monthly gravity field solution from GRACE range measurements using modified short arc approach

In this paper we present a series of monthly gravity field solutions from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment（GRACE） range measurements using modified short arc approach,in which the ambiguity of range measurements is eliminated via differentiating two adjacent range measurements.The data used for developing our monthly gravity field model are same as Tongji-GRACEOl model except that the range measurements are used to replace the range rate measurements,and our model is truncated to degree and order 60,spanning Jan.2004 to Dec.2010 also same as Tongji-GRACE01 model.Based on the comparison results of the C_（2,0）,C_（2,1）,S_（2,1）,and C_（15,15）,S_（15,15）,time series and the global mass change signals as well as the mass change time series in Amazon area of our model with those of Tongji-GRACE01 model,we can conclude that our monthly gravity field model is comparable with Tongji-GRACE01 monthly model.

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.