Trends in extreme high temperature at different altitudes of Southwest China during 1961–2014

ABSTRACT

This study analyzed the trends in extreme high temperature in Southwest China based on the observed daily maximum temperature and average temperature data from 410 Chinese stations recently released by the China Meteorological Administration. The authors found that the trends in extreme high temperature at different altitudes of Southwest China exhibit staged variations during a recent 50-year period (1961–2014). The trends in mean temperature and maximum temperature also exhibit phase variation. All temperature-related variables increase gently during the period 1975–94, whereas they increase dramatically during the recent period of 1995–2014, with a rate that is approximately two to ten times more than that during 1975–94. In addition, the trends in mean temperature, maximum temperature, and the frequency of extreme high temperature in the low altitudes transit from negative to positive in the two periods, while they increase dramatically in the mid- and high-altitude areas during 1995–2014, the well-known global warming hiatus period. In particular, the maximum temperature increases much faster than that of average temperature. This result implies that the regional temperature trend could be apparently different from the global mean temperature change.

Graphical Abstract

本研究根据中国气象局最近发布的中国高分辨率气象站的日最高气温和平均气温观测数据，分析了中国西南地区在1961–2014年间极端高温的趋势。中国西南不同海拔地区的极端高温趋势在近50年间(1961–2014)呈现出阶段性变化。平均温度和最高温度的变化趋势也表现出相对应的变化。这些与温度有关的变量在1975–94年期间均缓慢增加，而在最近的1995–2014年期间则急剧增加，增幅约为1975–94年的2–10倍。这种加速的增加主要发生在中、高海拔地区，并且最高温度比平均温度上升得快得多。而这一时期正是众所周知的全球变暖间歇期。这一结果表明，我国内陆高海拔区域的气温变化趋势可能与全球平均气温变化有明显差异。

KEYWORDS:

• Southwest China
• extreme high temperature
• trend change
• altitude

关键词:

• 中国西南地区
• 极端高温
• 长期趋势
• 海拔高度

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 41722504 and 41975116] and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [grant number 2016074].