Spatial variation of humidity and its influencing factors in the north and south slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, China during 1966-2015

doi:10.12006/j.issn.1673-1719.2018.061

Abstract

Abstract:

Daily meteorological data during 1966-2015 were used to analyze the spatio-temporal distribution characteristics of relative humidity (RH) in the north and south slopes of the Tianshan Mountains by using Mann-Kendall trend test. In addition, sensitivity coefficient and relative contribution were calculated to assess the impact of temperature, precipitation, reference evapotranspiration, wind speed and sunshine duration on RH. The results revealed that RH in the north slope exhibited fluctuating downward trend, but in the south slope it showed the opposite trend. Furthermore, the RH showed a rising gradient from south to north slope. As for seasonal RH, an upward trend was found in summer, autumn and winter, but a downward trend was observed in spring in the entire Tianshan Mountains. Sensitivity analysis indicated that RH was negatively related to temperature, reference evapotranspiration, wind speed and sunshine duration, but positively related to precipitation. Moreover, RH was the most sensitive to sunshine duration, reference evapotranspiration and wind speed, but precipitation was most insensitive, whether in north or south slope. Spatially, the high value area of sensitivity coefficient of precipitation was located in the Ili Valley, while others were located in the south slope. Contribution analysis suggested that the impact of reference evapotranspiration on RH was much larger than other factors. The high contribution area of sunshine duration was distributed in the Ili Valley (north slope), but that of wind speed, precipitation and temperature in Kizilsu (south slope).

Key words: North and south slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, Relative humidity (RH), Differences, Mann-Kendall trend test, Sensitivity analysis

Di-Tao CHEN,Fa-Rong HUANG,Qian LI,Lan-Hai LI. Spatial variation of humidity and its influencing factors in the north and south slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, China during 1966-2015[J]. Climate Change Research, 2018, 14(6): 562-572.

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 Distribution of meteorological stations in the north and south slopes of the Tianshan Mountains

Fig. 2 Spatial distribution of annual relative humidity in the north and south slopes of the Tianshan Mountains

Fig. 3 Trends of annual relative humidity in the north and south slopes of the Tianshan Mountains during 1966-2015. (a) North slope, (b) South slope, (c) the Tianshan Mountains

Fig. 4 Spatial distribution of variation trend of relative humidity in the Tianshan Mountains during 1966-2015. (a) spring, (b) summer, (c) autumn, (d) winter, (e) annual scale

Fig. 5 Spatial distribution of sensitivity coefficients for (a) reference evapotranspiration, (b) precipitation, (c) sunshine duration, (d) average temperature and (e) average wind speed in the Tianshan Mountains

Fig. 6 Spatial distribution of relative contributions for (a) reference evapotranspiration, (b) precipitation, (c) sunshine duration, (d) average temperature, and (e) average wind speed in the Tianshan Mountains

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