Abstract:

On the basis of the Third National Report on Climate Change of China and using the latest scientific literature on climate change of China since 2012 and China climate bulletins, this study assessed the climate changes of four national-level economic zones of China—the Bohai Economic Rim (BER), the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), the South China Economic Zone (SCEZ), and the Northeast China Economic Zone (NEEZ)—during recent decades. The main conclusions are: 1) Annual temperature increased at a rate of 0.35 ℃/10 a, 0.20 ℃/10 a, 0.20 ℃/10 a, and 0.33 ℃/10 a for the BER, YREB, SCEZ, and NEEZ, respectively, over the period 1961 to 2018. Although there was a climate warming slowdown in these regions during 1998-2014, the annual temperature after 2014 broke the warmest records for the BER, YREB, and SCEZ. 2) Precipitation changes over the period 1961 to 2018 were lower than 1 mm/10 a for each region, but there were significant inter-annual and inter-decadal oscillations. Precipitation during 2012-2018 were mostly more than normal, but with large spatiotemporal variability. The precipitation of NEEZ in 2013 and precipitation of YREB in 2016 respectively reached the highest values since 1961, but precipitation of Liaoning Province in 2014 reached the lowest since 1961. 3) During 2014-2018, there were more frequent extreme heat events in each region, whose maximum temperature broke historical heat extremes or exceeded the extreme high temperature threshold, that is, the 9th decile. Meanwhile, there were increases in the frequency of inter-seasonal droughts and extreme rainstorms in the BER and NEEZ; and there were more rainstorm days in the YREB and more severe impacts of typhoons in the SCEZ. There were also extensive extreme low temperature events in the context of climate warming in the YREB and NEEZ.

Key words: economic zones of China, climate change, extreme climate events