Trends and responses to global change of China’s arid regions

Abstract

I analyzed and elaborated the trends in and responses to global change in arid regions of China, from the perspective of nine variables, i.e., temperature, precipitation, river runoff, melting glaciers, water level of lakes, wind power and evaporation, vegetation, oases, and desertification. The climate and hydrology data I cited represent many years of observations. I conclude that, since the 1980s, the climate in arid regions of China has clearly changed with rising temperatures and precipitation in most areas. Wind power and the number of galestorm days have continuously decreased, which resulted in an improvement of humid conditions and increases in river discharge and water levels of lakes. Simultaneously, vegetation also has improved and the process of desertification has essentially been arrested. Although there are some unfavorable developments, such as decreased river flows or flow interruptions and downstream oases have suffered from degradation, these incidental cases should not distract our attention from the generally favorable trends during the middle and late 20th century. These discordant phenomena are not consequences of climate change but rather of unsuitable human activities. Despite a substantial increase in precipitation, the level of the original precipitation was so small that any increase in precipitation was still small. As a result, none of the fundamental conditions such as a scarcity of water resources and precipitation nor the landscape of drought-ridden deserts in the arid regions will change. The vulnerability of the eco-environmental system in the arid regions will not change fundamentally either in the near future.

Keywords

arid regions in China / global change / response