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The altered drivers of evapotranspiration trends around the recent warming hiatus in China

Sun, Huaiwei ; Bai, Yiwen ; Yang, Yong ; Lu, Mengge ; Yan, Dong ; Tuo, Ye and Zhang, Wenxin LU orcid (2022) In International Journal of Climatology 42(16). p.8405-8422
Abstract

This study focuses on the trends and the causes of variation in actual evapotranspiration (AET) around the warming hiatus over China by a comprehensive analysis applying various temporal–spatial methods. It is observed that the annual AET showed a different trend around 2000 for China as a whole. By employing segmented regression analysis for detecting warming hiatus points, high temporal inconsistency can be found in eight climatic regions of China. The impacts of meteorological variables on AET were further identified by affecting the intensity and relative change of meteorological factors. AET was highly correlated (p <.01) with solar radiation in the southeast (R = 0.80) and air specific humidity in the northwest areas (R =... (More)

This study focuses on the trends and the causes of variation in actual evapotranspiration (AET) around the warming hiatus over China by a comprehensive analysis applying various temporal–spatial methods. It is observed that the annual AET showed a different trend around 2000 for China as a whole. By employing segmented regression analysis for detecting warming hiatus points, high temporal inconsistency can be found in eight climatic regions of China. The impacts of meteorological variables on AET were further identified by affecting the intensity and relative change of meteorological factors. AET was highly correlated (p <.01) with solar radiation in the southeast (R = 0.80) and air specific humidity in the northwest areas (R = 0.83). AET changes presented the highest sensitivity to specific humidity in Northwest before 2006 and in north central China after 2003, with sensitivity coefficients of 1.48 and 1.74, respectively. Three variables, including air specific humidity (with an average contribution rate of ~17% in the northwest), short-wave radiation and air temperature, can be the main factors that lead to the changes in AET. The specific meteorological factors varied from region to region: the changes in AET can be ascribed to the increased wind and short-wave radiation in north central China and east China, the decreased air temperature in Tibetan Plateau, the increased specific humidity in southeast China during warming hiatus, and so on. After the warming hiatus occurred, the dominant factor of AET trends changed from air specific humidity to short-wave radiation and other factors. Generally, air specific humidity and air temperature have played leading roles in AET trends during the past 30 years.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
attribution analysis, China, climate change, ET changes, warming hiatus
in
International Journal of Climatology
volume
42
issue
16
pages
8405 - 8422
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85131756925
ISSN
0899-8418
DOI
10.1002/joc.7732
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Funding Information: Ministry of Science and Technology of China, Grant/Award Number: 2019FY00205; National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Numbers: 51879110, 52011530128, 52079055, 202100‐3211 Funding information Funding Information: This study was funded mainly by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2019FY00205) (H.S.). Most of the authors also acknowledge funding from the NSFC project (51879110, 52079055, and 52011530128). W.Z. and H.S. also acknowledge funding from the NSFC‐STINT project (No. 202100‐3211). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Royal Meteorological Society.
id
5f43a26a-f076-4cb2-b97a-1d6a309154e5
date added to LUP
2022-06-23 05:47:32
date last changed
2023-01-16 10:15:08
@article{5f43a26a-f076-4cb2-b97a-1d6a309154e5,
  abstract     = {{<p>This study focuses on the trends and the causes of variation in actual evapotranspiration (AET) around the warming hiatus over China by a comprehensive analysis applying various temporal–spatial methods. It is observed that the annual AET showed a different trend around 2000 for China as a whole. By employing segmented regression analysis for detecting warming hiatus points, high temporal inconsistency can be found in eight climatic regions of China. The impacts of meteorological variables on AET were further identified by affecting the intensity and relative change of meteorological factors. AET was highly correlated (p &lt;.01) with solar radiation in the southeast (R = 0.80) and air specific humidity in the northwest areas (R = 0.83). AET changes presented the highest sensitivity to specific humidity in Northwest before 2006 and in north central China after 2003, with sensitivity coefficients of 1.48 and 1.74, respectively. Three variables, including air specific humidity (with an average contribution rate of ~17% in the northwest), short-wave radiation and air temperature, can be the main factors that lead to the changes in AET. The specific meteorological factors varied from region to region: the changes in AET can be ascribed to the increased wind and short-wave radiation in north central China and east China, the decreased air temperature in Tibetan Plateau, the increased specific humidity in southeast China during warming hiatus, and so on. After the warming hiatus occurred, the dominant factor of AET trends changed from air specific humidity to short-wave radiation and other factors. Generally, air specific humidity and air temperature have played leading roles in AET trends during the past 30 years.</p>}},
  author       = {{Sun, Huaiwei and Bai, Yiwen and Yang, Yong and Lu, Mengge and Yan, Dong and Tuo, Ye and Zhang, Wenxin}},
  issn         = {{0899-8418}},
  keywords     = {{attribution analysis; China; climate change; ET changes; warming hiatus}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{16}},
  pages        = {{8405--8422}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Climatology}},
  title        = {{The altered drivers of evapotranspiration trends around the recent warming hiatus in China}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.7732}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/joc.7732}},
  volume       = {{42}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}