Climatic Controls on Spring Onset of the Tibetan Plateau Grasslands from 1982 to 2008
"> Figure 1
<p>Terrain (<b>a</b>) and vegetation cover (<b>b</b>) of the Tibetan Plateau. Black points in panel (a) denote weather stations used in the study (Zones 1, 2 and 3). The dashed gray line indicates the boundary of the study area, which is divided into three regions based on Zheng <span class="html-italic">et al.</span> [<a href="#B30-remotesensing-07-15847" class="html-bibr">30</a>] and the China Vegetation Map [<a href="#B34-remotesensing-07-15847" class="html-bibr">34</a>]. The black triangles denote the locations of two weather stations used for detailed analysis of co-variation between climate variables and spring onset in this study.</p> "> Figure 2
<p>Trends in spring (MAM) air temperature (T<sub>a</sub>, °C·year<sup>−1</sup>; (<b>a</b>,<b>b</b>)), precipitation (Prcp, mm·year<sup>−1</sup>; (<b>c</b>,<b>d</b>)), SPEI (year<sup>−1</sup>; (<b>e</b>,<b>f</b>)) and GIMMS3g NDVI-derived spring onset (SO, day·year<sup>−1</sup>; <b>(g</b>,<b>h</b>)) during the two sub-periods, respectively. Grid cells with black dots denote trends at the 90% (<span class="html-italic">p</span> < 0.1) significance level, while cells without black dots have non-significant trends (<span class="html-italic">p</span> > 0.1).</p> "> Figure 3
<p>Trends (°C·year<sup>−1</sup>) of the vertical temperature difference (T-diff) between spring (MAM) surface ground (0 cm) and air temperatures at <span class="html-italic">in-situ</span> weather stations, and correlations of GIMMS3g NDVI-derived SO <span class="html-italic">versus</span> T-diff respectively during the sub-periods of (<b>a</b>,<b>b</b>) 1982–1995 and (<b>c</b>,<b>d</b>) 1996–2008. In panels (a) and (c), the large colored dots indicate stations with increasing (in red) or decreasing (in blue) T-diff trends (<span class="html-italic">p</span> < 0.1), while small black dots denote non-significant trends. In panels (b) and (d), the red (blue) dots indicate weather stations with positive (negative) correlations between SO and T-diff, with correlation magnitude proportional to symbol size. Correlations were not computed for weather station locations that were sparsely vegetated or had a SO date beyond the May-June period (grey dots).</p> "> Figure 4
<p>The correlations between GIMMS3g NDVI-derived vegetation spring onset (SO) and spring (MAM) air temperature (<b>a</b>,<b>b</b>), precipitation (<b>c</b>,<b>d</b>) and SPEI (<b>e</b>,<b>f</b>) during the two sub-periods. Inset panels show corresponding correlation differences between the two sub-periods of 1982–1995 and 1996–2008.</p> "> Figure 5
<p>Frequency distributions of correlations between vegetation spring onset (SO) and spring (MAM) air temperature (<b>a</b>,<b>b</b>), precipitation (<b>c</b>,<b>d</b>) and SPEI (<b>e</b>,<b>f</b>) during the two sub-periods in Zone-1 and Zone-2, respectively. All data series were detrended prior to the analysis. Freq_a and Freq_b indicate corresponding frequency distributions of correlations during the two sub-periods. Numbers in the panels denote the regional mean correlations during the two sub-periods.</p> "> Figure 6
<p>Time series of GIMMS3g NDVI-derived spring onset (SO, (<b>a</b>)), <span class="html-italic">in-situ</span> spring air temperature (T<sub>a</sub>, (<b>b</b>)), precipitation (Prcp, (<b>c</b>)) and SPEI (<b>d</b>) from 1982 to 2008 at two respective weather station locations in Zone-1 (Shenzha) and Zone-2 (Qumarleb) of the TP domain. The partial correlation of SO with T<sub>a</sub> (or Prcp), while accounting for the influence of Prcp (or T<sub>a</sub>) was based on an 11-year moving-window analysis, while the correlation of SO with SPEI was calculated using a Pearson correlation also based on the 11-year moving-window analysis.</p> ">
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Data and Methods
2.1. Study Area
Region | Period | Ta | Prcp | SPEI | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean ± SD (°C) | Trend (°C·year−1) | Mean ± SD (mm) | Trend (mm·year−1) | Mean ± SD | Trend (year−1) | ||
Zone-1 | 1982–2008 | −3.27 ± 0.87 | 0.047 ** | 22.8 ± 11.1 | 0.50 * | 0.035 ± 0.486 | −0.003 * |
1982–1995 | −3.49 ± 0.82 | 0.066 ** | 18.4 ± 8.9 | −0.68 * | −0.004 ± 0.476 | −0.057 ** | |
1996–2008 | −2.96 ± 0.81 | 0.038 * | 27.4 ± 11.3 | 1.01 ** | 0.077 ± 0.494 | 0.001 ** | |
Zone-2 | 1982–2008 | −3.51 ± 0.77 | 0.045 ** | 73.0 ± 11.5 | −0.06 | 0.081 ± 0.426 | −0.016 * |
1982–1995 | −3.80 ± 0.64 | 0.054 * | 71.9 ± 2.6 | −0.79 * | 0.128 ± 0.405 | −0.037 ** | |
1996–2008 | −3.16 ± 0.77 | 0.039 | 73.8 ± 10.1 | −0.67 | 0.022 ± 0.441 | −0.049 * | |
Zone-3 | 1982–2008 | −2.18 ± 0.80 | 0.073 ** | 69.6 ± 16.7 | −0.92 ** | 0.065 ± 0.475 | −0.039 ** |
1982–1995 | −2.61 ± 0.63 | 0.062 ** | 74.6 ± 17.2 | −2.08 ** | 0.280 ± 0.412 | −0.058 ** | |
1996–2008 | −1.61 ± 0.58 | 0.035 | 65.1 ± 14.9 | −1.23 | −0.167 ± 0.431 | −0.056 * |
2.2. Datasets
2.3. Methods
2.3.1. Satellite Data Analysis
2.3.2. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Variations in Environmental Indicators
3.2. Variations in Spring Onset and Associated Climate Controls
Region | Period | Spring Onset | Mean Correlation with Spring Onset | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean ± SD (day of year) | Trend (day·year−1) | Ta Mean ± SD | Prcp Mean ± SD | SPEI Mean ± SD | ||
Zone-1 | 1982–2008 | 141.6 ± 2.1 | −0.187 ** | −0.121 ± 0.206 | 0.044 ± 0.203 | 0.185 ± 0.207 |
1982–1995 | 143.0 ± 1.0 | −0.121 ** | −0.027 ± 0.287 | −0.085 ± 0.283 | 0.016 ± 0.345 | |
1996–2008 | 140.1 ± 1.7 | −0.015 * | −0.300 ± 0.294 | 0.157 ± 0.299 | 0.403 ± 0.190 | |
Zone-2 | 1982–2008 | 139.6 ± 2.5 | −0.257 ** | −0.268 ± 0.218 | 0.149 ± 0.259 | 0.266 ± 0.234 |
1982–1995 | 141.3 ± 2.0 | −0.274 ** | −0.275 ± 0.263 | 0.211 ± 0.432 | 0.333 ± 0.362 | |
1996–2008 | 137.8 ± 1.5 | −0.207 * | −0.254 ± 0.377 | 0.125 ± 0.312 | 0.262 ± 0.348 | |
Zone-3 | 1982–2008 | 140.4 ± 1.9 | −0.123 ** | −0.166 ± 0.163 | −0.099 ± 0.261 | −0.109 ± 0.248 |
1982–1995 | 141.2 ± 1.8 | −0.211 ** | −0.054 ± 0.264 | −0.181 ± 0.317 | −0.076 ± 0.298 | |
1996–2008 | 139.4 ± 1.2 | 0.119 ** | −0.190 ± 0.319 | −0.050 ± 0.350 | −0.101 ± 0.329 |
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Zhang, W.; Yi, Y.; Kimball, J.S.; Kim, Y.; Song, K. Climatic Controls on Spring Onset of the Tibetan Plateau Grasslands from 1982 to 2008. Remote Sens. 2015, 7, 16607-16622. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs71215847
Zhang W, Yi Y, Kimball JS, Kim Y, Song K. Climatic Controls on Spring Onset of the Tibetan Plateau Grasslands from 1982 to 2008. Remote Sensing. 2015; 7(12):16607-16622. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs71215847
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhang, Wenjiang, Yonghong Yi, John S. Kimball, Youngwook Kim, and Kechao Song. 2015. "Climatic Controls on Spring Onset of the Tibetan Plateau Grasslands from 1982 to 2008" Remote Sensing 7, no. 12: 16607-16622. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs71215847