Climate Exchange

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Climate-related services in China

Huijun Wang and Dabang Jiang, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

hina is situated in East Asia, bordered on its east by the

western North Pacific. The national climate is modu-

lated mainly by the East Asian monsoon circulation,

the western North Pacific subtropical high, surface conditions

on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, the South Asian high pressure

system in the upper troposphere, atmospheric circulation in

the middle and high latitudes of the Eurasian continent, and

remote factors through atmospheric teleconnection. Spatial

and temporal climate conditions are quite complicated in

the country, with warm-wet climates in summer and cold-

dry climates in winter. The national natural environment,

highly influenced by geographic location and topographic and

geomorphic features, is generally poor, and most regions are

susceptible and vulnerable to climate change. A considerable

effort has been made by meteorologists and climatologists to

investigate the facts and mechanisms of climate change over a

wide range of timescales and to evaluate its influence. At the

moment, climate service products generally consist

of climate detection and diagnosis, climate predic-

tion and projection, climate resource development,

climate risk management and so on. Climate serv-

ices are provided for agriculture, hydrology, traffic,

disease prevention and atmospheric environment

control among other uses.

Climate change-related services

Meteorological stations have increased in China since

the 1950s. The network of automatic meteorologi-

cal stations currently includes more than 2,000 sites

across the country. In addition, there are satellite

data and marine observations as well as observation

stations for wind and solar energy. Based on these

continuous and quality-controlled observations, it

has been found that China’s climate has undergone

apacity

evelopment

75E 85E 95E 105E 115E 125E 135E

20N

30N

40N

50N

> 0.4

> 0.2

> 0

< 0

Spatial distribution of linear trends of annual mean temperature with 160 stations in China from 1951-2010. Units:

C/decade

Source: IAP China