High Mountains Becoming Wetter While Deserts Getting Drier in Xinjiang, China since the 1980s

Yong Zhang, Chengbang An, Luyu Liu, Yanzhen Zhang, Chao Lu and Wensheng Zhang
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Yong Zhang: Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Chengbang An: Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Luyu Liu: Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Yanzhen Zhang: Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Chao Lu: Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Wensheng Zhang: Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-14

Abstract: Climate change has been thought to drive the accelerated expansion of global drylands. However, many studies reveal that Arid Central Asia (ACA) has been warming and wetting in recent decades, representing an anomalous response to global climate change. Given that ACA is composed of complex ecosystems and landforms, it is not clear whether or not this trend is uniform in this topographically heterogenous region. Here, we integrate the Google Earth Engine and ERA5-Land reanalysis data to study the trend of changes, since the 1980s, in temperature and precipitation in the Tianshan Mountains and the surrounding deserts, collectively referred to as the Tianshan and Desert Ecozone, which is in Northwest China. Our results show that only 20.4% of this area is becoming both warmer and wetter, which occurs mainly in the altitudes above 2800 m (Tianshan Ecozone). All three alpine ecosystems (coniferous forests, alpine meadow, and nival zone) in the Tianshan Ecozone exhibit similar warming and wetting trends, including of elevation-dependent wetting on the specific altitude range. In contrast, the low-lying oasis where human activities are mostly concentrated is undergoing warming and drying, which will face a greater threat of drought projected under three emissions scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5). These results highlight the importance of considering the differences of climate change in different altitude gradients and different ecosystems when studying climate change in drylands.

Keywords: climate change; Tianshan mountains; deserts; oases; ecozone (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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