Response of the North Pacific Storm Track Activity in the Cold Season to Multi-scale Oceanic Variations of Kuroshio Extension System: A Statistical Assessment

In this paper,a statistical method called Generalized Equilibrium Feedback Analysis(GEFA)is used to investigate the responses of the North Pacific Storm Track(NPST)in the cold season to the multi-scale oceanic variations of the Kuroshio Extension(KE)system,including its large-scale variation,oceanic front meridional shift,and mesoscale eddy activity.Results show that in the cold season from the lower to the upper troposphere,the KE large-scale variation significantly weakens the storm track activity over the central North Pacific south of 30°N.The northward shift of the KE front significantly strengthens the storm track activity over the western and central North Pacific south of 40°N,resulting in a southward shift of the NPST.In contrast,the NPST response to KE mesoscale eddy activity is not so significant and relatively shallow,which only shows some significant positive signals near the dateline in the lower and middle troposphere.Furthermore,it is found that baroclinicity and baroclinic energy conversion play an important role in the formation of the NPST response to the KE multi-scale oceanic variations.

Precise Positioning Method for Seafloor Geodetic Stations Based on the Temporal Variation of Sound Speed Structure

At present,GNSS-Acoustic(GNSS-A)combined technology is widely used in positioning for seafloor geodetic stations.Based on Sound Velocity Profiles(SVPs)data,the equal gradient acoustic ray-tracing method is applied in high-precision position inversion.However,because of the discreteness of the SVPs used in the forementioned method,it ignores the continuous variation of sound velocity structure in time domain,which worsens the positioning accuracy.In this study,the time-domain variation of Sound Speed Structure(SSS)has been considered,and the cubic B-spline function is applied to characterize the perturbed sound velocity.Based on the ray-tracing theory,an inversion model of“stepwise iteration&progressive corrections”for both positioning and sound speed information is proposed,which conducts the gradual correction of seafloor geodetic station coordinates and disturbed sound velocity.The practical data was used to test the effectiveness of our method.The results show that the Root Mean Square(RMS)errors of the residual values of the traditional methods without sound velocity correction,based on quadratic polynomial correction and based on cubic B-spline function correction are 1.43 ms,0.44 ms and 0.21 ms,respectively.The inversion model with sound velocity correction can effectively eliminate the systematic error caused by the change of SSS,and significantly improve the positioning accuracy of the seafloor geodetic stations.

Discrete Wavelet Multi-scale Decomposition of the Temporal Gravity Variations in North China

On the basis of the absolute and relative gravity observations in North China,spatial dynamic variation of regional gravity fields is obtained. A multi-scale decomposition technique is used to separate anomalies at different depths,and give some explanation to gravity variation at different time space scales. Gravity variation trends in North China are improved. Based on this result and the analysis of wavelet power spectrum,the images of the depth of wavelet approximation and detail are obtained. The results obtained are of scientific significance for the deep understanding of potential seismic risk in North China from gravity variations in different time space scales.

Spatio-temporal variation of trace elements distributed over surface water of Upper Ganga River Basin in Western Himalayan Region

The rivers draining from the Himalayan range distribute enormous amount of fresh water to the people living in downstream regions.Trace metals flowed with river water can lead to serious impact on ecological system and human health.Nevertheless,the documentation on trace elements of Himalayan rivers is inadequately documented.The current study deals with the spatial and temporal variability of the major and trace elements of Ganga river water in epirhithron,metarhithron and hyporhithron zone belonging to Himalayan segment.Water samples from nineteen monitoring locations were collected in pre-monsoon(May-June),monsoon(AugustSeptember)and post-monsoon(December)seasons and subjected to be assessed for 20 elements(Ag,Al,Ba,Cd,Ca,Cr,Cu,Fe,Ga,K,Mn,Mg,Na,Ni,Pb,Sr,Th,U,Zn,and Zr)using ICP-OES(Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometer).Different water pollution indexes such as HPI(Heavy Metal Pollution Index),MI(Metal Index)and PI(Pollution Index)were used to describe current water quality status at each monitoring station under particular classified ecological zone.The studied stations in hyporhithron zone had the value of Metal Index(MI>1),indicating threshold of warning.Further,the highest values of HPI in hyporhithron zone correspond to poor water quality status.Sites with poor water quality were also found to be contaminated as per the Pollution Index(PI),exhibiting high concentrations for element(Fe).However,the epirhithron and metarhithron zone in Himalayan segment showed excellent water quality mainly contributed from natural sources.Cluster Analysis(CA)and Principal Component Analysis(PCA)were applied to identify the main influential sources for Ganga river water pollution.The Kriging interpolation method was also applied to prepare spatial distribution map of computed indexes(HPI,MI,and PI).With the help of index of local Moran’s I(LMI),identified spatial clusters and spatial outliers revealed the elevated concentration of most elements in hyporhithron zone.The dataset presented in this study would be convenient for government officials in developing more effective management policies and necessary steps to check and monitor the Ganga river water quality.It was also suggested that further investigations in terms of trace elemental sources and their role in self-purification properties of Ganga water can be addressed in future.

Temporal and spatial variation characteristics of extreme precipitation on the Loess Plateau of China facing the precipitation process

The preceding and succeeding precipitation(PSP)often act together with extreme precipitation(EP),in turn,causing floods,which is an objective component that is often overlooked with regard to summer flood hazards in the arid region of Northwest China.In this study,event-based extreme precipitation(EEP)was defined as continuous precipitation that includes at least one day of EP.We analyzed the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of four EEP types(front EEP,late EEP,balanced EEP,and single day EEP)across the Loess Plateau(LP)based on data acquired from 87 meteorological stations from 1960 to 2019.Precipitation on the LP basically maintained a spatial pattern of"low in the northwest region and high in the southeast region",and EP over the last 10 a increased significantly.The cumulative precipitation percentage of single day EEP was 34%and was dominant for 60 a,while the cumulative precipitation percentage of front,late,and balanced EEP types associated with PSP accounted for 66%,which confirms to the connotation of EEP.The cumulative frequencies of front and late EEP types were 23%and 21%,respectively,while the cumulative frequency of balanced EEP had the lowest value at only 13%.Moreover,global warming could lead to more single day EEP across the LP,and continuous EEP could increase in the northwestern region and decrease in the eastern region in the future.The concept of process-oriented EP could facilitate further exploration of disaster-causing processes associated with different types of EP,and provide a theoretical basis for deriving precipitation disaster chains and construction of disaster cluster characteristics.

Eff ects of environmental factors on the temporal and spatial variations in branch and leaf CO_(2)effl ux of Larix gmelinii var.principis-rupprechtii Mayr

The CO_(2)effl ux of branches and leaves plays an important role in ecosystem carbon balance.Using a carbon fl ux system,the effl ux of Larix gmelinii var.principisrupprechtii(Dahurian larch)was investigated in 27 years(immature),31 years(near-mature),and 47 years(mature)stands at diurnal,seasonal,and spatial scales(direction and height)as well as its connection with environmental factors from May to October 2020.Diurnal variation in effl ux was a single peak,and the maximum occurring between 14:00 and 16:00.Seasonal variation also exhibited a single peak,with the maximum in late July and the minimum in early October.From May to September,effl ux on the south side was the largest among the three stands,and mean values on the south side of 27 year-old,31 year-old,and 47 year-old trees were 0.50,0.97 and 1.05μmol·m^(–2)·s^(–1),respectively.The minimum occurred on the north side.Except for the maximum in July and September in the 27 year-old stand in the middle of the canopy,the maximum effl ux in the upper canopy,and the means in the 27 year-old,31 year-old,and 47 year-old stands were 0.49,0.96 and 1.04μmol·m^(-2)·s^(-1),respectively;the minimum occurred in the lower canopy.Temperatures and relative humidity infl uenced seasonal variations in effl ux.Seasonal variation in temperature sensitivity coeffi cient(Q 10)was opposite that of temperature,increasing with decreasing temperature.At the spatial scale,maximum Q 10 occurred in the mid canopy.With the effl ux and temperature data in diff erent locations,it is possible to better estimate effl ux variations in each stand.

Temporal and Spatial Variation of Summer Extreme High Temperature in Guizhou Province from 1970 to 2020

Based on the daily maximum temperature data of 31 meteorological observation stations and some statistical methods, the temporal and spatial characteristics of summer extreme high temperature in Guizhou province from 1970 to 2020 are analyzed. The results indicate that: 1) The threshold of extreme high temperature (EHT) in summer in Guizhou province had a large spatial difference, with decreasing characteristics from the northeast to the southwest, it was negatively correlated with the altitude. 2) In most parts of Guizhou province, the extreme high temperature days (EHTD) in summer can reach about 4.2 d, the lowest EHTD occurred in the southernmost part. From June to August, the EHTD gradually increased, especially in Central and eastern parts of Guizhou province. However, the extreme high temperature intensity (EHTI) displayed similar distribution characteristics in summer, June, July and August, with larger value in the northeast part and lower value in the southwest part of Guizhou. 3) EHTD had a rising trend in almost stations, except for the PZ station, the increased range and intensity gradually increased from June to August. But the EHTI had a larger spatial difference, especially in June, it declined in most parts of Guizhou, the declined scope and intensity gradually decreased in July, and completely increased in August, this made EHTI show an increasing trend in summer in most parts the Guizhou province. 4) The averaged EHTD increased by 0.62 d/10a (p 0.1), the significant increase also occurred in August, but it increased insignificantly in June and July. The averaged EHTI had insignificant increase in summer and the three months. In general, the EHTD and EHTI increased in most parts of Guizhou province during the period of 1970-2020, this may be related to the changes of them in August.

Temporal and Spatial Variation Characteristics of Precipitation during Crop Growing Season in Northeast China

[Objective] The aims were to understand variation characteristics of water resources and provide theoretical guidance for the formulation of agricultural irrigation methods.[Method] Taking the precipitation records during crop growing season（from April to September）observed by 177 weather stations from 1971 to 2008 in the three provinces of Northeast China（Heilongjiang,Jilin and Liaoning）as research data,annual change and spatial distribution characteristics of precipitation during crop growing season were analyzed by means of small grid interpolation and climatic trend rate.[Result] The precipitation during crop growing season general exhibited the decreasing trend and the precipitation trend rate was-8.6 mm/10a in Northeast China.In addition,there was lack of rain from 1971 to 1980 and relatively abundant of rain during 1981 and 1990 respectively.Moreover,the precipitation obviously exhibited decreasing trend from 1991 to 2008.But the decreasing trend was inconsistent in spatial distributions,that was,the precipitation slightly increased in relatively rainless areas and obviously decreased in relatively rainy areas.[Conclusion] The areas with obvious decreasing trend of precipitation during crop growing season are the main grain producing zones in Northeast China,so the problem of food production security caused by the precipitation changes should be paid enough attention.

Layer chicken microbiota:a comprehensive analysis of spatial and temporal dynamics across all major gut sections

Background The gut microbiota influences chicken health,welfare,and productivity.A diverse and balanced microbiota has been associated with improved growth,efficient feed utilisation,a well-developed immune system,disease resistance,and stress tolerance in chickens.Previous studies on chicken gut microbiota have predominantly focused on broiler chickens and have usually been limited to one or two sections of the digestive system,under con-trolled research environments,and often sampled at a single time point.To extend these studies,this investigation examined the microbiota of commercially raised layer chickens across all major gut sections of the digestive system and with regular sampling from rearing to the end of production at 80 weeks.The aim was to build a detailed picture of microbiota development across the entire digestive system of layer chickens and study spatial and temporal dynamics.Results The taxonomic composition of gut microbiota differed significantly between birds in the rearing and pro-duction stages,indicating a shift after laying onset.Similar microbiota compositions were observed between proven-triculus and gizzard,as well as between jejunum and ileum,likely due to their anatomical proximity.Lactobacil-lus dominated the upper gut in pullets and the lower gut in older birds.The oesophagus had a high proportion of Proteobacteria,including opportunistic pathogens such as Gallibacterium.Relative abundance of Gallibacterium increased after peak production in multiple gut sections.Aeriscardovia was enriched in the late-lay phase compared to younger birds in multiple gut sections.Age influenced microbial richness and diversity in different organs.The upper gut showed decreased diversity over time,possibly influenced by dietary changes,while the lower gut,specifi-cally cecum and colon,displayed increased richness as birds matured.However,age-related changes were inconsist-ent across all organs,suggesting the influence of organ-specific factors in microbiota maturation.Conclusion Addressing a gap in previous research,this study explored the microbiota across all major gut sections and tracked their dynamics from rearing to the end of the production cycle in commercially raised layer chickens.This study provides a comprehensive understanding of microbiota structure and development which help to develop targeted strategies to optimise gut health and overall productivity in poultry production.

Analysis on Temporal and Spatial Characteristic and Variation of Precipitation in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Based on seasonal and annual observed precipitation data at 19 meteorological stations in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,the temporal and spatial distribution characteristic is analyzed by EOF method.And spatial characteristics and temporal changes trends of EOF of seasonal and annual precipitation have been showed.The main period and sudden changes point of EOF of annual precipitation have been studied by Mann-Kendall and spectrum analysis method.

The Spatiotemporal Distribution Characteristics of Cloud Types and Phases in the Arctic Based on CloudSat and CALIPSO Cloud Classification Products

The cloud type product 2B-CLDCLASS-LIDAR based on CloudSat and CALIPSO from June 2006 to May 2017 is used to examine the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics and interannual variability of eight cloud types(high cloud, altostratus, altocumulus, stratus, stratocumulus, cumulus, nimbostratus, and deep convection) and three phases(ice,mixed, and water) in the Arctic. Possible reasons for the observed interannual variability are also discussed. The main conclusions are as follows:(1) More water clouds occur on the Atlantic side, and more ice clouds occur over continents.(2)The average spatial and seasonal distributions of cloud types show three patterns: high clouds and most cumuliform clouds are concentrated in low-latitude locations and peak in summer;altostratus and nimbostratus are concentrated over and around continents and are less abundant in summer;stratocumulus and stratus are concentrated near the inner Arctic and peak during spring and autumn.(3) Regional averaged interannual frequencies of ice clouds and altostratus clouds significantly decrease, while those of water clouds, altocumulus, and cumulus clouds increase significantly.(4) Significant features of the linear trends of cloud frequencies are mainly located over ocean areas.(5) The monthly water cloud frequency anomalies are positively correlated with air temperature in most of the troposphere, while those for ice clouds are negatively correlated.(6) The decrease in altostratus clouds is associated with the weakening of the Arctic front due to Arctic warming, while increased water vapor transport into the Arctic and higher atmospheric instability lead to more cumulus and altocumulus clouds.

A multi-scale second-order autoregressive recursive filter approach for the sea ice concentration analysis

To effectively extract multi-scale information from observation data and improve computational efficiency,a multi-scale second-order autoregressive recursive filter(MSRF)method is designed.The second-order autoregressive filter used in this study has been attempted to replace the traditional first-order recursive filter used in spatial multi-scale recursive filter(SMRF)method.The experimental results indicate that the MSRF scheme successfully extracts various scale information resolved by observations.Moreover,compared with the SMRF scheme,the MSRF scheme improves computational accuracy and efficiency to some extent.The MSRF scheme can not only propagate to a longer distance without the attenuation of innovation,but also reduce the mean absolute deviation between the reconstructed sea ice concentration results and observations reduced by about 3.2%compared to the SMRF scheme.On the other hand,compared with traditional first-order recursive filters using in the SMRF scheme that multiple filters are executed,the MSRF scheme only needs to perform two filter processes in one iteration,greatly improving filtering efficiency.In the two-dimensional experiment of sea ice concentration,the calculation time of the MSRF scheme is only 1/7 of that of SMRF scheme.This means that the MSRF scheme can achieve better performance with less computational cost,which is of great significance for further application in real-time ocean or sea ice data assimilation systems in the future.

Multi-scale context-aware network for continuous sign language recognition

The hands and face are the most important parts for expressing sign language morphemes in sign language videos.However,we find that existing Continuous Sign Language Recognition(CSLR)methods lack the mining of hand and face information in visual backbones or use expensive and time-consuming external extractors to explore this information.In addition,the signs have different lengths,whereas previous CSLR methods typically use a fixed-length window to segment the video to capture sequential features and then perform global temporal modeling,which disturbs the perception of complete signs.In this study,we propose a Multi-Scale Context-Aware network(MSCA-Net)to solve the aforementioned problems.Our MSCA-Net contains two main modules:(1)Multi-Scale Motion Attention(MSMA),which uses the differences among frames to perceive information of the hands and face in multiple spatial scales,replacing the heavy feature extractors;and(2)Multi-Scale Temporal Modeling(MSTM),which explores crucial temporal information in the sign language video from different temporal scales.We conduct extensive experiments using three widely used sign language datasets,i.e.,RWTH-PHOENIX-Weather-2014,RWTH-PHOENIX-Weather-2014T,and CSL-Daily.The proposed MSCA-Net achieve state-of-the-art performance,demonstrating the effectiveness of our approach.

Temporal and Spatial Variation and Distribution Characteristics of Maximum and Minimum Temperature from 1971 to 2008 in Tibet

Based on temperature data of meteorological stations from 1971 to 2008 in Tibet,the temporal and spatial variation of maximum andminimum temperature in Tibet was analyzed.The results showed that both maximum temperature andminimum temperature increased distinctly,the warming amplitude of winter was the highest among the four seasons,and next came spring.The increment ofminimum temperature was visibly over that of maximum temperature,particularlyminimum temperature in winter with significant increment.For spatial variation,maximum temperature in most stations increased except particular stations,while theminimum temperature in all stations rose.In addition,the space variation law ofminimum temperature,being more obvious thanminimum temperature,increased from southeast to northwest with different spatial changes in various seasons.From decadal variation,both maximum andminimum temperature appeared increase from 1970s to the first eight years in the 21st century,and the rise ofminimum temperature was significant greater than maximum temperature.The increase of maximum andminimum temperature was the highest from 2001 to 2008,whereas the lowest in 1970s.

Geographical Patterns and Temporal Variations of Regional Dry and Wet Heatwave Events in China during 1960–2008

Daily maximum/minimum temperatures and relative humidity records from 510 stations in China for the period 1960–2008 were used to investigate geographical patterns and temporal variations of heatwave （HW） events. Dry and wet HW events were compared by different definitions. Regionally, both dry and wet HW events are commonly located in southeastern China in the monsoon area, with neither type occurring in the northeast part of Northeast China and Southwest China, while the north-northwest region of the country experiences dry HW events and a few wet HW events. In the southeast of the country, site dry HW events occurred from April to September and mostly in June, while site wet HW events occurred from April to October and mostly in September. In total, 163 regional wet HW events were identified. The ten longest regional wet HW events lasted for more than 20 days, while the mean duration for 163 events was about 11 days. For the top ten events, six occurred after the 1990s, compared with four before this time. Global surface warming was clear since 1979, but the frequency and severity of regional wet HW events were relatively low in the 1980s, increasing remarkably since the 1990s. Possible reasons for this might be the strong interdecadal and interannual variations in regional atmospheric circulations, as well as water transport related directly to temperature contrasts in different regions, rather than global-mean temperature changes.

Spatial and temporal variations of water quality in Cao-E River of eastern China

Evaluation and analysis of water quality variations were performed with integrated consideration of water quality parameters, hydrological-meteorologic and anthropogenic factors in Cao-E River, Zhejiang Province of China. Cao-E River system has been polluted and the water quality of some reaches are inferior to Grade V according to National Surface Water Quality Standard of China （GB2002）. However, mainly polluted indices of each tributary and mainstream are different. Total nitrogen （TN） and total phosphorus （TP） in the water are the main polluted indices for mainstream that varies from 1.52 to 45.85 mg/L and 0.02 to 4.02 mg/L, respectively. TN is the main polluted indices for Sub-watershed Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅳ and Ⅴ（0.76 to 18.27 mg/L）. BOD5 （0.36 to 289.5 mg/L）, CODMn （0.47 to 78.86 mg/L）, TN （0.74 to 31.09 mg/L） and TP （0 to 3.75 mg/L） are the main polluted indices for Sub-watershed Ⅲ. There are tow pollution types along the river including nonpoint source pollution and point source pollution types. Remarkably temporal variations with a few spatial variations occur in nonpoint pollution type reaches （including mainstream, Sub-watershed Ⅰ and Ⅱ） that mainly drained by arable field and/or dispersive rural dwelling district, and the maximum pollutant concentration appears in flooding seasons. It implied that the runoff increases the pollutant concentration of the water in the nonpoint pollution type reaches. On the other hand, remarkably spatial variations occur in the point pollution type reaches （include Sub-watershed Ⅲ, Ⅳ and Ⅴ） and the maximum pollutant concentration appears in urban reaches. The runoff always decreases the pollutant concentration of the river water in the seriously polluted reaches that drained by industrial point sewage. But for the point pollution reaches resulted from centralized town domestic sewage pipeline and from frequent shipping and digging sands, rainfall always increased the concentration of pollutant （TN） in the river water too. Pollution controls were respectively suggested for these tow types according to different pollution causes.

Spatial and temporal variation of nitrogen exported by runoff from sandy agricultural soils

The eutrophication problem has drawn attention to nutrient leaching from agricultural soils, and an understanding of spatial and temporal variability is needed to develop decision-making tools. Thus, eleven sites were selected to monitor, over a two-year period, spatial and temporal variation of runoff discharge and various forms of N in surface runoff in sandy agricultural soils. Factors influencing the variation of runoff discharge and various forms of N in surface runoff were analyzed. Variation of annual rainfall was small among 11 sites, especially between 2001 and 2002. However, variation of annual discharge was significant among the sites. The results suggest that rainfall patterns and land use had significant effect on discharge. The concentrations of total N, total kjeldahl N （TKN）, organic matter-associated N （OM-N）, NO3- -N, and NHn＋-N in the runoff ranged widely from 0.25 to 54.1, 0.15 to 20.3, 0.00 to 14.6, 0.00 to 45.3, and 0.00 to 19.7 mg/L, respectively. Spatial and temporal variations in the N concentration and runoff discharge were noted among the different sites. Annual loads of N in the runoff varied widely among monitoring sites and depend mainly on runoff discharge. High loads of total N, OM-N, NO3--N, and NHn＋-N in the runoff either in citrus groves or on vegetable farms occurred from June to October for each year, which coincided with the rainy season in the region. This study found that N in surface runoff was related to rainfall intensity, soil N level, and fertilizer use.

Temporal variation of soil carbon stock and its controlling factors over the last two decades on the southern Song-nen Plain,Heilongjiang Province

Against the current background of global climate change, the study of variations in the soil carbon pool and its controlling factors may aid in the evaluation of soil＇s role in the mitigation or enhancement of greenhouse gas. This paper studies spatial and temporal variation in the soil carbon pool and their controlling factors in the southern Song-nen Plain in Heilongjiang Province, using soil data collected over two distinct periods by the Multi-purpose Regional Geochemical Survey in 2005-2007, and another soil survey conducted in 1982-1990. The study area is a carbon source of 1479 t/km2 and in the past 20 years, from the 1980s until 2005, the practical carbon emission from the soil was 0.12 Gt. Temperature, which has been found to be linearly correlated to soil organic carbon, is the domi- nant climatologic factor controlling soil organic carbon contents. Our study shows that in the relevant area and time period the potential loss of soil organic carbon caused by rising temperatures was 0.10 Gt, the potential soil carbon emission resulting from land-use change was 0.09 Gt, and the combined potential loss of soil carbon （0.19 Gt） caused by warming and land-use change is comparable to that of fossil fuel combustion （0.21 Gt）. Due to the time delay in soil carbon pool variation, there is still 0.07 Gt in the potential emission caused by warming and land-use change that will be gradually released in the future.

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.

Temporal and spatial variations of δ^18O in precipitation of the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin

This paper reveals the temporal and spatial variations of stable isotope in precipitation of the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin based on the variations of δ^18O in precipitation at four stations （Lhaze, Nugesha, Yangcun and Nuxia） in 2005. The results show that δ^18O of precipitation has distinct seasonal changes in the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin. The higher value of δ^18O occurs in spring prior to monsoon precipitation, and the lower value occurs during monsoon precipitation. From the spatial variations, with the altitude-effect and rainout process during moisture transport along the Yarlung Zangbo River Valley, δ^18O of precipitation is gradually depleted. Thus, δ^18O of precipitation decreases gradually from the downstream to the upstream, and the lapse rate of δ^18O in precipitation is approximately 0.34‰/100m and 0.7%J‰/100km for the two reasons. During monsoon precipitation, spatial variation of δ^18O in precipitation is dominated by the amount effect in the large scale synoptic condition.