Acta Geographica Sinica ›› 2019, Vol. 74 ›› Issue (5): 875-888.doi: 10.11821/dlxb201905003

• Climate Change and Surface Processes • Previous Articles     Next Articles

A high-resolution grid dataset of air temperature and precipitation for Qinling-Daba Mountains in central China and its implications for regional climate

LU Fuzhi1,LU Huayu1,2()   

  1. 1. School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
    2. Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Climate Change, Nanjing 210023, China
  • Received:2018-01-17 Revised:2019-01-22 Online:2019-05-25 Published:2019-05-24
  • Contact: LU Huayu E-mail:huayulu@nju.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Key R&D Program of China(2016YFA0600503);National Key R&D Program of China(2016YFE0109500);National Natural Science Foundation of China(41690111)

Abstract:

In this study, we developed a high-resolution grid dataset of air temperature and precipitation for the Qinling-Daba Mountains in central China, which includes monthly precipitation and temperature, seasonal precipitation and temperature, annual precipitation and temperature. Spatial interpolation was performed using thin-plate smoothing spline in the software ANUSPLIN, with latitude, longitude and elevation as independent variables. Our dataset is consistent with the widely-used WorldClim 2.0 dataset, but has more accuracy, because it is based on a larger number of meteorological stations and higher-resolution elevation data. Our results show that the southern foot of Qinling Mountains is the 0 ℃ isothermal line in the coldest month (January). The Qinling-Daba Mountains has obvious vertical temperature zones. The maximum temperature lapse rate occurs in June, which is 0.61 ℃ per 100 m, while the minimum temperature lapse rate is 0.38 ℃ per 100 m, occurring in December. The annual mean temperature lapse rate is 0.51 ℃ per 100 m. Both summer and autumn precipitations decrease from southwest to northeast, with heavy rainfall center located on the southwestern slope of the Daba Mountains, while winter precipitation decreases from southeast to northwest. The Daba Mountains is the 1000 mm isohyetal line of annual precipitation and 500 mm isohyetal line of summer precipitation, while the Qinling Mountains is the 800 mm isohyetal line of annual precipitation and 400 mm isohyetal line of summer precipitation. Comparison with large-scale atmospheric circulation indicates that the spatial distributions of air temperature and precipitation in the Qinling-Daba Mountains are mainly controlled by the East Asian monsoon and topography. In summer, the Daba Mountains prevents the northward penetration of East Asian summer monsoon and therefore influences the spatial distribution of precipitation. In winter, the Qinling Mountains prevents the southward penetration of East Asian winter monsoon and therefore influences the spatial distribution of air temperature. In summary, our high-resolution grid dataset contributes to a better understanding of regional climate and will have many applications in future researches.

Key words: Qinling Mountains, Daba Mountains, air temperature, precipitation, grid dataset, interpolation, ANUSPLIN, East Asian monsoon