Abstract:

Based on the winter half year (from November to the April of next year) minimum temperature data at 160 stations in China during 1955-2005, the abrupt changes in minimum temperature were analyzed by using the Mann-Kendall statistic test. The probability distributions of minimum temperature series for the colder period (1955/1956-1988/1989) and the warmer period (1989/1990-2004/2005) were given, and the spatial differences of minimum temperature between the two climatic periods were also compared. The results show that: 1) the significant rising of minimum temperature occurred in the end of the 1980s, with a rising amplitude larger than that of mean temperature; 2) after the warming the probability of lower minimum temperature has apparently reduced and that of higher minimum temperature increased; 3) statistically, the rising trends of minimum temperature were all significant over most regions in China except those in Southwest China.

Key words: winter half year, minimum temperature, probability distribution, warming trend, China