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Spatial and temporal trends of climate change in Xinjiang, China

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Abstract

Temperature and precipitation time series datasets from 1961 to 2005 at 65 meteorological stations were used to reveal the spatial and temporal trends of climate change in Xinjiang, China. Annual and seasonal mean air temperature and total precipitation were analyzed using Mann-Kendall (MK) test, inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation, and R/S methods. The results indicate that: (1) both temperature and precipitation increased in the past 45 years, but the increase in temperature is more obvious than that of precipitation; (2) for temperature increase, the higher the latitude and the higher the elevation the faster the increase, though the latitude has greater influence on the increase. Northern Xinjiang shows a faster warming than southern Xinjiang, especially in summer; (3) increase of precipitation occurs mainly in winter in northern Xinjiang and in summer in southern Xinjiang. Ili, which has the most precipitation in Xinjiang, shows a weak increase of precipitation; (4) although both temperature and precipitation increased in general, the increase is different inside Xinjiang; (5) Hurst index (H) analysis indicates that climate change will continue the current trends.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of GIScience of the Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China

    Qihu Li & Jianhua Xu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, CAS, Urumqi, 830002, China

    Yaning Chen & Xingong Li

  3. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, CAS, Shijiazhuang, 050021, China

    Yanjun Shen

  4. Department of Geography, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Xingong Li

Authors
  1. Qihu Li
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  2. Yaning Chen
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  3. Yanjun Shen
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  4. Xingong Li
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  5. Jianhua Xu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yaning Chen.

Additional information

Foundation: National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program), No.2010CB951003

Author: Li Qihu (1982–), Ph.D, specialized in GIS spatial analysis and environmental analysis.

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Li, Q., Chen, Y., Shen, Y. et al. Spatial and temporal trends of climate change in Xinjiang, China. J. Geogr. Sci. 21, 1007–1018 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-011-0896-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-011-0896-8

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