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Climate change in China

About: Climate change in China is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 281 publications have been published within this topic receiving 7274 citations.


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Journal ArticleDOI
02 Sep 2010-Nature
TL;DR: It is found that notwithstanding the clear warming that has occurred in China in recent decades, current understanding does not allow a clear assessment of the impact of anthropogenic climate change on China’s water resources and agriculture and therefore China's ability to feed its people.
Abstract: China is the world's most populous country and a major emitter of greenhouse gases. Consequently, much research has focused on China's influence on climate change but somewhat less has been written about the impact of climate change on China. China experienced explosive economic growth in recent decades, but with only 7% of the world's arable land available to feed 22% of the world's population, China's economy may be vulnerable to climate change itself. We find, however, that notwithstanding the clear warming that has occurred in China in recent decades, current understanding does not allow a clear assessment of the impact of anthropogenic climate change on China's water resources and agriculture and therefore China's ability to feed its people. To reach a more definitive conclusion, future work must improve regional climate simulations-especially of precipitation-and develop a better understanding of the managed and unmanaged responses of crops to changes in climate, diseases, pests and atmospheric constituents.

2,611 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of ENSO on the summer climate change in China and its mechanism from the observed data is discussed, and it is discovered that the SST in the western tropical Pacific is colder in summer, the convective activities may be weak around the South China Sea and the Philippines.
Abstract: The influence of ENSO on the summer climate change in China and its mechanism from the observed data is discussed. It is discovered that in the developing stage of ENSO, the SST in the western tropical Pacific is colder in summer, the convective activities may be weak around the South China Sea and the Philippines. As a consequence, the subtropical high shifted southward. Therefore, a drought may be caused in the Indo-China peninsula and in the South China. Moreover, in midsummer the subtropical high is weak over the Yangtze River valley and Huaihe River valley, and the flood may be caused in the area from the Yangtze River valley to Huaihe River valley. On the contrary, in the decaying stage of ENSO, the convective activities may be strong around the Philippines, and the subtropical high shifted northward, a drought may be caused in the Yangtze River valley and Huaihe River valley.

567 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the daily meteorological data from 726 stations in China from 1951 to 2000, and developed an unprecedented climatic dataset that contains 10 daily variables: maximum and minimum surface air temperatures, mean surface air temperature, skin surface temperature, surface air relative humidity, wind speed, wind gust, sunshine duration hours, precipitation, and pan evaporation.
Abstract: Long-term observational data are essential for understanding local and regional climate and climate change. These data are also important for hydrological designs and agricultural decision making. This study examined the daily meteorological data from 726 stations in China from 1951 to 2000, and developed an unprecedented climatic dataset that contains 10 daily variables: maximum and minimum surface air temperatures, mean surface air temperature, skin surface temperature, surface air relative humidity, wind speed, wind gust, sunshine duration hours, precipitation, and pan evaporation. The characteristics of the original stations’ data and quality-control methods designed and used in developing this dataset are detailed. The quality-control procedures identified less than 0.05% of the data records as being erroneous because of typos and incorrect units, reading, or data coding. When the spatial and temporal consistency of the variables’ time series were inspected, nearly 37.9% of the stations were found to have one or more variables with inconsistent changes. The sources causing the temporal inconsistency/discontinuity were evaluated, and a method was developed and applied to adjust those data segments containing inconsistent values. The resulting data series, as an alternative to the original quality-controlled series, showed both spatially and temporally consistent trends in the occurrence frequency of extreme climate events compared with the unadjusted data series. Finally, the quality-controlled daily data were gridded to a 1.0°×1.0° grid system covering China after the erroneous and missing data were estimated. This new dataset opens up opportunities for analysing and understanding the climate variability and climate change in China. Copyright  2004 Royal Meteorological Society.

361 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors summarized the main results and findings of studies conducted by Chinese scientists in the past five years and showed that observed climate change in China bears a strong similarity with the global average.
Abstract: This article summarizes the main results and findings of studies conducted by Chinese scientists in the past five years It is shown that observed climate change in China bears a strong similarity with the global average The country-averaged annual mean surface air temperature has increased by 11°C over the past 50 years and 05–08°C over the past 100 years, slightly higher than the global temperature increase for the same periods Northern China and winter have experienced the greatest increases in surface air temperature Although no significant trend has been found in country-averaged annual precipitation, interdecadal variability and obvious trends on regional scales are detectable, with northwestern China and the mid and lower Yangtze River basin having undergone an obvious increase, and North China a severe drought Some analyses show that frequency and magnitude of extreme weather and climate events have also undergone significant changes in the past 50 years or so Studies of the causes of regional climate change through the use of climate models and consideration of various forcings, show that the warming of the last 50 years could possibly be attributed to an increased atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, while the temperature change of the first half of the 20th century may be due to solar activity, volcanic eruptions and sea surface temperature change A significant decline in sunshine duration and solar radiation at the surface in eastern China has been attributed to the increased emission of pollutants Projections of future climate by models of the NCC (National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration) and the IAP (Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences), as well as 40 models developed overseas, indicate a potential significant warming in China in the 21st century, with the largest warming set to occur in winter months and in northern China Under varied emission scenarios, the country-averaged annual mean temperature is projected to increase by 15–21°C by 2020, 23–33°C by 2050, and by 39–60°C by 2100, in comparison to the 30-year average of 1961–1990 Most models project a 10%–12% increase in annual precipitation in China by 2100, with the trend being particularly evident in Northeast and Northwest China, but with parts of central China probably undergoing a drying trend Large uncertainty exists in the projection of precipitation, and further studies are needed Furthermore, anthropogenic climate change will probably lead to a weaker winter monsoon and a stronger summer monsoon in eastern Asia

315 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper have shown that the CO2 emission in China has continuously increased and the sum of positive radiative forcings produced by greenhouse gases is responsible for climate warming.

285 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
202115
202018
201921
20189
20177
20169