IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i15p11536-d1202571.html

Variations of Extreme Temperature Event Indices in Six Temperature Zones in China from 1961 to 2020

Author

Listed:
  • Jiajie Xin

    (Jiangxi Provincial Climate Center, Nanchang 330096, China)

  • Mingjin Zhan

    (Jiangxi Provincial Eco-Meteorological Center, Nanchang 330096, China
    Nanchang National Climate Observatory, Nanchang 330096, China)

  • Bin Xu

    (Jiangxi Provincial Climate Center, Nanchang 330096, China)

  • Haijun Li

    (Jiangxi Provincial Meteorological Center, Nanchang 330096, China)

  • Longfei Zhan

    (Jiangxi Provincial Climate Center, Nanchang 330096, China)

Abstract

In this study, eight extreme temperature event indices were calculated based on daily maximum, minimum, and mean temperature data recorded at 699 National Reference Stations in China during 1961–2020. The yearly change of mean temperature and the magnitude, frequency, and duration of extreme temperature events in six temperature zones were evaluated. All temperature zones had a trend of an increase in mean temperature (rate: 2.1–3.3 °C per 10 years), and the warming was more significant in the warm temperate zone and the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau zone (QPZ). For extreme temperature events, the extreme maximum and minimum temperatures in most temperature zones showed significant trends of increase, and the rates of increase were greater in the northern zones and QPZ. The rate of increase in extreme minimum temperature was substantially (up to three times) higher than the rate of increase in extreme maximum temperature in the same temperature zone; however, the finding was the opposite for the cold temperate zone (CTZ), which is the northernmost region of China. The rate of increase in extreme maximum temperatures was the greatest (0.35 °C per 10 years), whereas the rate of increase in extreme minimum temperatures was the smallest (0.17 °C per 10 years). The number of warm days/nights and the warm spell duration index also showed significant trends of increase that were most obvious in the southern zones and QPZ. In the tropical zone (TZ), which is the southernmost part of mainland China, the number of warm nights was only 15.3 days in 1961–1970, whereas it increased to 61.9 days in 2011–2020 (an increase of 303.9%). The rate of increase in warm nights in TZ (8.8 days per 10 years) was four times that in CTZ (2.2 days per 10 years). The number of cold days/nights and the cold spell duration index showed significant trends of decrease, with the greatest rates of reduction in QPZ and TZ. In evaluating the frequency of extreme temperature events, the amplitude of warming of the night index was found to be greater than that of the day index. In evaluating the duration of extreme temperature events, the variation of the cold index was found to be greater than that of the warm index. The notable asymmetries found in the variations of the minimum/maximum temperatures, day/night indices, and cold/warm spell durations in China are direct manifestations of global warming.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiajie Xin & Mingjin Zhan & Bin Xu & Haijun Li & Longfei Zhan, 2023. "Variations of Extreme Temperature Event Indices in Six Temperature Zones in China from 1961 to 2020," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-15, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11536-:d:1202571
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11536/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11536/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Noah Diffenbaugh & Martin Scherer, 2011. "Observational and model evidence of global emergence of permanent, unprecedented heat in the 20th and 21st centuries," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 107(3), pages 615-624, August.
    2. Dana Habeeb & Jason Vargo & Brian Stone, 2015. "Rising heat wave trends in large US cities," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 76(3), pages 1651-1665, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Man Zhang & Chengguo Zhang & Dengpan Xiao & Yaning Chen & Qingxi Zhang, 2024. "Has There Been a Recent Warming Slowdown over North China?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-22, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Santágata, Daniela M. & Castesana, Paula & Rössler, Cristina E. & Gómez, Darío R., 2017. "Extreme temperature events affecting the electricity distribution system of the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires (1971–2013)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 404-414.
    2. Baarsch, Florent & Granadillos, Jessie R. & Hare, William & Knaus, Maria & Krapp, Mario & Schaeffer, Michiel & Lotze-Campen, Hermann, 2020. "The impact of climate change on incomes and convergence in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    3. Syud Amer Ahmed & Noah S. Diffenbaugh & Thomas W. Hertel & William J. Martin, 2012. "Agriculture and Trade Opportunities for Tanzania: Past Volatility and Future Climate Change," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 429-447, August.
    4. Frances C. Moore, 2017. "Learning, Adaptation, And Weather In A Changing Climate," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(04), pages 1-21, November.
    5. Xuemei Su & Yibin Cheng & Yu Wang & Yue Liu & Na Li & Yonghong Li & Xiaoyuan Yao, 2019. "Regional Temperature-Sensitive Diseases and Attributable Fractions in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Suresh Kumar Rathi & Soham Chakraborty & Saswat Kishore Mishra & Ambarish Dutta & Lipika Nanda, 2021. "A Heat Vulnerability Index: Spatial Patterns of Exposure, Sensitivity and Adaptive Capacity for Urbanites of Four Cities of India," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-17, December.
    7. Wei Wu & Qingsheng Liu & He Li & Chong Huang, 2023. "Spatiotemporal Distribution of Heatwave Hazards in the Chinese Mainland for the Period 1990–2019," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-23, January.
    8. Salvi Asefi-Najafabady & Karen L Vandecar & Anton Seimon & Peter Lawrence & Deborah Lawrence, 2018. "Climate change, population, and poverty: vulnerability and exposure to heat stress in countries bordering the Great Lakes of Africa," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 148(4), pages 561-573, June.
    9. Kelly C. Saverino & Emily Routman & Todd R. Lookingbill & Andre M. Eanes & Jeremy S. Hoffman & Rong Bao, 2021. "Thermal Inequity in Richmond, VA: The Effect of an Unjust Evolution of the Urban Landscape on Urban Heat Islands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-18, February.
    10. Xiaohan Wu & Yongming Xu & Huijuan Chen, 2020. "Study on the Spatial Pattern of an Extreme Heat Event by Remote Sensing: A Case Study of the 2013 Extreme Heat Event in the Yangtze River Delta, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-16, May.
    11. S. E. Perkins-Kirkpatrick & C. J. White & L. V. Alexander & D. Argüeso & G. Boschat & T. Cowan & J. P. Evans & M. Ekström & E. C. J. Oliver & A. Phatak & A. Purich, 2016. "Natural hazards in Australia: heatwaves," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 139(1), pages 101-114, November.
    12. P. Duffy & C. Tebaldi, 2012. "Increasing prevalence of extreme summer temperatures in the U.S," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 111(2), pages 487-495, March.
    13. Villoria, Nelson B., "undated". "Sources of domestic food price volatility: An empirical investigation using structural gravity of maize markets," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274280, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Alessandro Dosio & Mirco Migliavacca & Douglas Maraun, 2025. "How fast is climate changing? One generation is sufficient for unfamiliar heatwave characteristics to emerge in Europe," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 178(2), pages 1-17, February.
    15. Dan Wanyama & Erin L. Bunting & Nicholas Weil & David Keellings, 2023. "Delineating and characterizing changes in heat wave events across the United States climate regions," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(2), pages 1-23, February.
    16. Brunn, Karina & Toledo, Olivia & Tran, Chelsea Chau & Vasudevan, Ashwin & Venkat, Bharat Jayram, 2025. "Carceral heat exposure as harmful design: An integrative model for understanding the health impacts of heat on incarcerated people in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 367(C).
    17. Gregory Clancey & Jiat-Hwee Chang & Liz PY Chee, 2024. "Heat and the city: Thermal control, governance and health in urban Asia," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(15), pages 2857-2867, November.
    18. Liyanage, Don Rukmal & Hewage, Kasun & Hussain, Syed Asad & Razi, Faran & Sadiq, Rehan, 2024. "Climate adaptation of existing buildings: A critical review on planning energy retrofit strategies for future climate," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    19. Weiwen Wang & Wen Zhou & Edward Yan Yung Ng & Yong Xu, 2016. "Urban heat islands in Hong Kong: statistical modeling and trend detection," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 83(2), pages 885-907, September.
    20. Jennifer Campbell & William Fletcher & Sébastien Joannin & Philip J. Hughes & Mustapha Rhanem & Christoph Zielhofer, 2017. "Environmental Drivers of Holocene Forest Development in the Middle Atlas, Morocco," Post-Print hal-01813460, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11536-:d:1202571. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.