Journal
ATMOSPHERE
Volume 12, Issue 8, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/atmos12080973
Keywords
temperature; precipitation; trends; variations; periodicity; Upper Indus Basin
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41601279]
- Special Fund for Forest Scientific Research in the Public Welfare [201504401]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2016ZCQ06, 2015ZCQ-SB-01]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The study on the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) reveals a significant warming trend in T-max but a cooling trend in T-min. Seasonally, the warming in T-max is more pronounced in winter and spring, while the cooling in T-min is greater in summer and autumn. Precipitation shows an overall increasing trend, with greater increases in winter, summer, and autumn.
Having an extreme topography and heterogeneous climate, the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) is more likely to be affected by climate change and it is a crucial area for climatological studies. Based on the monthly minimum temperature (T-min), maximum temperature (T-max) and precipitation from nine meteorological stations, the spatiotemporal variability of temperature and precipitation were analyzed on monthly, seasonal, and annual scales. Results show a widespread significant increasing trend of 0.14 degrees C/decade for T-max, but a significant decreasing trend of -0.08 degrees C/decade for T-min annually, during 1955-2016 for the UIB. Seasonally, warming in T-max is stronger in winter and spring, while the cooling in T-min is greater in summer and autumn. Results of seasonal T-max indicate increasing trends in winter, spring and autumn at rates of 0.38, 0.35 and 0.05 degrees C/decade, respectively, while decreasing in summer with -0.14 degrees C/decade. Moreover, seasonal T-min results indicate increasing trends in winter and spring at rates of 0.09 and 0.08 degrees C/decade, respectively, while decreasing significantly in summer and autumn at rates of -0.21 and -0.22 degrees C/decade respectively for the whole the UIB. Precipitation exhibits an increasing trend of 2.74 mm/decade annually, while, increasing in winter, summer and autumn at rates of 1.18, 2.06 and 0.62 mm/decade respectively. The warming in T-max and an increase in precipitation have been more distinct since the mid-1990s, while the cooling in T-min is observed in the UIB since the mid-1980s. Warming in the middle and higher altitude (1500-2800 m and >2800 m) are much stronger, and the increase is more obvious in regions with elevation >2800 m. The wavelet analysis illustrated sporadic inter-annual covariance of seasonal T-max, T-min and precipitation with ENSO, NAO, IOD and PDO in the UIB. The periodicities were usually constant over short timescales and discontinuous over longer timescales. This study offers a better understanding of the local climate characteristics and provides a scientific basis for government policymakers.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available