Earth Sciences

| Peer-Reviewed |

The Progress of Dry–wet Climate Divisional Research in China

Received: 05 November 2019    Accepted: 16 December 2019    Published: 04 January 2020
Views:       Downloads:

Share This Article

Abstract

The dry–wet climate regionalization index, potential evapotranspiration calculation methods, standard and named methods of dry–wet climate regionalization, etc., since the middle of the 20th century are reviewed in this paper. Using the arid index, climate regionalization and class standards were given on the basis of former review. Then, the characteristics of wet–dry climate division were analyzed using observed data at 2207 national meteorological stations from 1981 to 2010. The results showed that the total arid area (including extreme arid, arid and semi-arid areas) was 4.692 million hm2 in China, accounting for 48.8% of the land area in China, which included 878,000 hm2 (9.1%), 2.092 million hm2 (21.8%) and 1.722 million hm2 (17.9%) for extreme arid, arid and semi-arid area, respectively. The arid areas were mainly distributed in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu and other western regions. Sub-humid area, wet area and excessive wet area accounted for 1.6%, 27.8% and 8.8% of China’s land area, respectively, mainly located in the south of the Yangtze River and Northeast China. Since 1961, the overall characteristics of dry-wet climate change in China are that the total arid areas shows a decreasing trend, while the total wet areas shows an increasing trend.

DOI 10.11648/j.earth.20200901.12
Published in Earth Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 1, February 2020)
Page(s) 8-15
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Dry-wet Climate Division, Arid Index, Potential Evapotranspiration, Climate Change

References
[1] Ding Y., Wang H. Newly acquired knowledge on the scientific issues related to climate change over the recent 100 years in China. Chin. Sci. Bull., 2016, 61, 1029–1041.
[2] Shi Y. Assessment of the Transition from Warm Dry to Warm and Humid Climate in Northwest China; China Meteorological Press: Beijing, China, 2003.
[3] Zhang Q.; Zhang C.; Bai H. et al. New development of climate change in Northwest China and its impact on arid environment. Journal of Arid Meteorology, 2010, 28 (1): 1-7.
[4] Chen X.; Zhang C. Climate change assessment report of Northwest China; Science Technology Press: Beijing, China, 2013.
[5] Zhu, K. China’s Climate Regional Theory/Cllected Works of Zhu Kezhen; Science Press: Beijing, China, 1979; pp. 124–132.
[6] Tu, C.; Guo, X. Climatic regions of China according to Koppen’s classification method. Acta Meteorol. Sin. 1938, 14, 51–67.
[7] Huang, B. Preliminary draft of synthesized natural division in China. Acta Geogr. Sin. 1958, 24, 348–363.
[8] Natural Division Working Committee of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Preliminary Draft of China Synthesized Natural Division; Science Press: Beijing, China, 1959.
[9] Natural Division Working Committee of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Preliminary Draft of China Climate Division; Science Press: Beijing, China, 1959.
[10] Penman, H. L. Natural evaporation from open water, bare soil and grass. Proc. R. Soc. Ser. A 1948, 193, 454–465.
[11] Penman, H. L. Woburn irrigation 1951–1959. J. Agric. Sci. 1962, 58, 343–379.
[12] Lu, Q.; Wei, L.; Du, Z. A study on the wet and dry periods and regionalization of China according to aridity. Acta Geogr. Sin. 1965, 31, 15–24.
[13] Qian, J.; Lin, Z. A preliminary study of the dry and wet climatic reginalization of China. Acta Geogr. Sin. 1965, 31, 1–14.
[14] China Meteorological Administration. Climatic Atlas of China; Map Publishers: Beijing, China, 1966; p. 162.
[15] China Meteorological Administration. Climatic Atlas of the People’s Republic of China; Map Publishers: Beijing, China, 1979; pp. 222–223.
[16] Chen, X. A new approach to the climate division of China. Acta Meteorol. Sen. 1982, 40, 35–48.
[17] Zhang, J.; Lin, Z. Climate of China; Shanghai Scientific & Techonological Publishers: Shanghai, China, 1985.
[18] Qiu, B. A new discussion on the regionalization of agroclimate in China. Acta Geogr. Sin. 1986, 41, 202–209.
[19] Li, S.; Hou, G.; Ou, Y.; Cui, D.; Zheng J. Agroclimatic Resource and Agroclimatic Division in China; Science Press: Beijing, China, 1988.
[20] China Meteorological Administration. Atlas of Climatic Resource in China; China Map Publishers: Beijing, China, 1994; pp. 277–278.
[21] Editorial Board of Climatic Atlas of the People’s Republic of China. Climatic Atlas of People’s Republic of China; China Meteorological Press: Beijing, China, 2002.
[22] Institute of China Standardization and Information Classification and Coding; National Meteorological Center of China Meteorological Administration; National Standard of People’s Republic of China. Names and Codes for Climate Regionalization in China Climatic Zones (GB/T17297-1998); China Standard Publisher: Beijing, China, 2004; pp. 1–8.
[23] Zheng, J.; Yin, Y.; Li, B. A New Scheme for Climate Regionalization in China. Acta Geogr. Sin. 2010, 65, 3–12.
[24] Zheng, J.; Bian, J.; Ge, Q.; Yin, Y. The climate regionalization in China for 1981–2010. Chin. Sci. Bull. 2013, 58, 3088–3099.
[25] Editorial Board of National Assessment Report on Climate Change. National Assessment Report on Climate Change; Science Press: Beijing, China, 2007; pp. 23–40.
[26] Editorial Board of the 2nd National Assessment Report on Climate Change. The 2nd National Assessment Report on Climate Change; Science Press: Beijing, China, 2011; pp. 23–38.
[27] Ding, Y.; Wang, S.; Zheng, J.; Wang H.; Yang X. China Climate, Series Books on Physical Geography of China; Science Press: Beijing, China, 2013; pp. 392–418.
[28] Feng, S.; Fu, Q. Expansion of global drylands under a warming climate. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 2103, 13, 10081–10094.
[29] Middleton, N. J.; Thomas, D. S. G. UNEP: World Atlas of Desertification; Edward Arnold: Sevenoaks, UK, 1992.
[30] Huang, J.; Guan X.; Ji F. Enhanced cold-season warming in semi-arid regions. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 2012, 12, 5391–5398.
[31] Fu, C.; An, Z. Study of adidfication in Northern China—A global Change issue facing directly the demand of nation. Earth Sci. Front. 2002, 9, 271–275.
[32] Ma, Z.; Fu, C. Decadal variations of arid and semi-arid boundary in China. Chin. J. Geophys. 2005, 48, 519–525.
[33] Yang, J.; Ding, Y.; Chen, R.; Liu, L. The fluctuation of dry and wet climate boundary and its causal analyses in China. Acta Meteorol. Sin. 2003, 61, 364–373.
[34] Shi, P.; Sun, S.; Wang, M.; Li, N.; Wang, J.; Jin, Y.; Gu, X.; Yin, W. Climate change regionalization in China (1961–2010). Sci. China Earth Sci. 2014, 44, 2294–2306.
[35] Yuan Q.; Wu S.; Dai E. et al. Spatio-temporal variation of the wet-dry conditions from 1961 to 2015 in China. Science China: Earth Sciences, 2017, 11, 1339-1348.
[36] Ma D.; Yin Y.; Wu S. et al. Sensitivity of arid/humid patterns in China to future climate change under high emission scenario. Acta Geographica Sinica, 2019, 5, 857-874.
[37] Wu S.; Pan T.; Liu Y. et al. Comprehensive climate change risk regionalization of China. Acta Geographical Sinica, 2017, 1, 3-17.
[38] Zhang, Q.; Chen, L. Variations of dryness and wetness in China during 1951–1980. Chin. J. Atmos. Sci. 1991, 15, 72–81.
[39] Chen, J.; Zhang, Y. Discussion on relation between humidity index and aridity degree. J. Desert Res. 1996, 16, 79–82.
[40] Zhai, P.; Zou, X. Changes in temperature and precipitation and their impacts on drought in China during 1951–2003. Adv. Clim. Chang. Res. 2005, 1, 16–18.
[41] Ci, L.; Wu, B. Climatic type division and the potential extent determination of desertification in China. J. Desert Res. 1997, 17, 107–111.
[42] Office for Combating Desertification, Ministry of Forestry of People’s Republic of China. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa; China Forestry Publishers: Beijing, China, 1994.
[43] Thornthwaite, C. W. An approach toward a rational classification of climate. Geogr. Rev. 1948, 38, 55–94.
[44] Holdridge, L. R. Determination of world plant formation from simple climatic data. Science 1947, 105, 367–368.
[45] Tao, S. Analysis of water demand and new classification of climate regions in China. Acta Meteorol. Sin. 1949, 20, 43–50.
[46] Zhang, B.; Zhu, G. Preliminary Draft of Climate Division in China; Science Press: Beijing, China, 1959; pp. 1–297.
[47] Zhang, X. The potential evapotranspiration (PE) index for vegetation and vegetation-climatic classification(I)—An introduction of main methods and PEP program. Acta Phytoecol. Geobotatical Sin. 1989, 13, 1–9.
[48] Zhang, X. The potential evapotranspiration (PE) index for vegetation and vegetation-climatic classification(II)—An introduction of main methods and PEP program. Acta Phytoecol. Geobotatical Sin. 1989, 13, 197–207.
[49] Du, Y.; Liu, Z.; Zhang, Y. Evaluation of two reference crop evaporatranspiration calculation methods. J. Henan Agric. Univ. 2001, 35, 57–61.
[50] Mao, F.; Zhang, G. Z.; Xu, X. Several method of calculating the reference evapotranspiration and comparision of their results. J. Appl. Meteorol. 2000, 11, 128–136.
[51] Liu, B.; Ma, Z. Area change of dry and wet regions in China in the past 45 years. Arid Land Geogr. 2007, 30, 7–15.
[52] Zhang, X.; Yang, D. The potential evapotranspiration (PE) index for vegetation and vegetation-climatic classification(III)—An introduction of main methods and PEP program. Acta Phytoecol. Geobotatical Sin. 1993, 17, 97–109.
[53] Zhou, G.; Zhang, X. Study on Chinese climate-vegetation relationship. Acta Phytoecol. Sin. 1996, 20, 113–119.
Author Information
  • National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, China

  • National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, China

  • Chinese Academy of Meteorological Science, Beijing, China

Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Cunjie Zhang, Yaoming Liao, Yanling Song. (2020). The Progress of Dry–wet Climate Divisional Research in China. Earth Sciences, 9(1), 8-15. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20200901.12

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    Cunjie Zhang; Yaoming Liao; Yanling Song. The Progress of Dry–wet Climate Divisional Research in China. Earth Sci. 2020, 9(1), 8-15. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20200901.12

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    Cunjie Zhang, Yaoming Liao, Yanling Song. The Progress of Dry–wet Climate Divisional Research in China. Earth Sci. 2020;9(1):8-15. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20200901.12

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/j.earth.20200901.12,
      author = {Cunjie Zhang and Yaoming Liao and Yanling Song},
      title = {The Progress of Dry–wet Climate Divisional Research in China},
      journal = {Earth Sciences},
      volume = {9},
      number = {1},
      pages = {8-15},
      doi = {10.11648/j.earth.20200901.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20200901.12},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.earth.20200901.12},
      abstract = {The dry–wet climate regionalization index, potential evapotranspiration calculation methods, standard and named methods of dry–wet climate regionalization, etc., since the middle of the 20th century are reviewed in this paper. Using the arid index, climate regionalization and class standards were given on the basis of former review. Then, the characteristics of wet–dry climate division were analyzed using observed data at 2207 national meteorological stations from 1981 to 2010. The results showed that the total arid area (including extreme arid, arid and semi-arid areas) was 4.692 million hm2 in China, accounting for 48.8% of the land area in China, which included 878,000 hm2 (9.1%), 2.092 million hm2 (21.8%) and 1.722 million hm2 (17.9%) for extreme arid, arid and semi-arid area, respectively. The arid areas were mainly distributed in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu and other western regions. Sub-humid area, wet area and excessive wet area accounted for 1.6%, 27.8% and 8.8% of China’s land area, respectively, mainly located in the south of the Yangtze River and Northeast China. Since 1961, the overall characteristics of dry-wet climate change in China are that the total arid areas shows a decreasing trend, while the total wet areas shows an increasing trend.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - The Progress of Dry–wet Climate Divisional Research in China
    AU  - Cunjie Zhang
    AU  - Yaoming Liao
    AU  - Yanling Song
    Y1  - 2020/01/04
    PY  - 2020
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20200901.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.earth.20200901.12
    T2  - Earth Sciences
    JF  - Earth Sciences
    JO  - Earth Sciences
    SP  - 8
    EP  - 15
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5982
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20200901.12
    AB  - The dry–wet climate regionalization index, potential evapotranspiration calculation methods, standard and named methods of dry–wet climate regionalization, etc., since the middle of the 20th century are reviewed in this paper. Using the arid index, climate regionalization and class standards were given on the basis of former review. Then, the characteristics of wet–dry climate division were analyzed using observed data at 2207 national meteorological stations from 1981 to 2010. The results showed that the total arid area (including extreme arid, arid and semi-arid areas) was 4.692 million hm2 in China, accounting for 48.8% of the land area in China, which included 878,000 hm2 (9.1%), 2.092 million hm2 (21.8%) and 1.722 million hm2 (17.9%) for extreme arid, arid and semi-arid area, respectively. The arid areas were mainly distributed in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu and other western regions. Sub-humid area, wet area and excessive wet area accounted for 1.6%, 27.8% and 8.8% of China’s land area, respectively, mainly located in the south of the Yangtze River and Northeast China. Since 1961, the overall characteristics of dry-wet climate change in China are that the total arid areas shows a decreasing trend, while the total wet areas shows an increasing trend.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

  • Sections