CHINA – CLIMATOLOGY

1. CHINA – CLIMATOLOGY

2. DISCLAIMER All pictures are downloaded from the open source. The international boundaries of all pictures are as per International acceptance and does not represent the true existing boundaries of India. Pronunciation of Chinese names may be incorrect.

3. INTRODUCTION • Vast and extremely complex landforms. • Large variation of climate. • Evidence emerged in early approach towards climate classification of earth as represented in first global regionalisation scheme of climate by Koppen (1884). • Main feature is in diversity and contrariety, which together may lead to existence of large number of climate types. • Review of climatology of China a challenging task.

4. INTRODUCTION • Area of 9,598,022 Sq Km, (including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau) - second largest country on earth. • China comprises 6.4% of Global landmass. • Farthest distance measures around • 4,500 km in a West – East direction • 4,200 in North – South direction, southernmost locality is South Hainan in the main China land. • 5,600 km in North – South direction, southernmost locality is Nan Sha Islands in the South China Sea.

5. INTRODUCTION • Northernmost point of China lies along 54° N. • Southernmost point along 18°N or along 3°N (southern Nan Sha Islands). • Mostly falls in mid-latitudes (Temperate), small part in low latitudes belt (Subtropical). • The longitudinal extension also has climate controlling impact to lesser extent. • Westernmost point 71° E, East along 135° E. • Influences whole Asia-Pacific region.

6. CHINA – POLITICAL AND PHYSICAL MAP 1600 km 4400 km 4500 km 5600 km

7. CHINA – VISUAL IMAGE

8. TOPOGRAPHY AND LANDFORMS • Mountains occupy 43% of China’s land surface. • Mountainous plateaus 26%. • Basins, hilly terrain and mainly arid regions, 19%. • 12% of total area, plains. • Six major geographic regions, considerable diversity in terrain and topographic-relief.

9. CHINA – POLITICAL (INTERNAL) NE CHINA MONGOLIAN BORDERLANDS NORTHWEST NORTH CHINA TAR SOUTH CHINA

10. NORTHWEST • Two basins • JunggarPendi in north • Tarim Basin and lofty Tian Shan mountain chain in south • TarimBasin has TaklaMakan Desert, driest desert in Asia. • TurpanPendi, largest area in China with elevations below sea level. • Mongolian Borderlands in north central China is a plateau region of mainly sandy, stony or gravel deserts that grade eastwards into steppe lands with fertile soils. • Along eastern border is higher, forested DaHingganLing mountains.

11. CHINA – TERRAIN MAP

12. NORTHEAST • Northeast region incorporates Manchurian Plains and bordering uplands. • This region lies between Mongolian Borderlands on north and Yangzi River Basin on south and consists of several distinct topographic units. • The HuangtuGaoyuan on northwest is formed by accumulation of loess. To east, Shandong Highlands on Shandong Peninsula consists of two distinct areas of mountains flanked by hills. • To the southwest are the Central Mountains, which constitute a formidable barrier to north – south movement. • NORTH CHINA

13. SOUTH CHINA • Lowlands are criss-crossed with waterways, both natural and artificial, and are dotted with lakes. • Sichuan Basin located to west and enclosed by rugged mountain of Central Highlands. • Highlands of South China extend from Tibetan Plateau east to sea. • Along the coast are rugged SoutheasternHighlands with numerous offshore islands.

14. CHINA – TOPOGRAPHY MAP

15. CHINA – TECTONIC MAP

16. TIBETAN PLATEAU • High, mountain-rimmed plateau of Tibet occupies remote southwestern extremity of China. • World’s highest plateau region, an average elevation of about 4,877 meters (16,000 feet) above sea level. • Bordering ranges - Himalayas to south, Pamirsand Karakorum to west, Kunlun and Qilian Shan to north. • Surface dotted with salt lakes and marshes. • Crossed by several mountain ranges. • Contains headwaters of major rivers of southern and eastern Asia (Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Yangzi, Huang He (Yellow River)). • Landscape is bleak, barren and strewn with rocks.

17. CHINA – PHYSIOGRAPHY MAP

18. CHINA – DIGITAL ELEVATION MODEL MAP

19. MOUNTAIN CHAINS • One group is oriented from west to east, another from northeast to southwest. • Many high west – east oriented chains extend eastwards from Tibetan Plateau – Altai, Tian Shan, Kun Lun, Tang Gu La, Gong Di Si, Himalayas, QiLian, Qin Ling, Yin Shan, Nan Ling etc. • The NE – SW oriented mountains include D Axing An Ling, Chang Bay, Tai Hang, Wu Sham Taiwan, Hang Duan, etc.

20. CHINA – MOUNTAIN RANGES

21. ISLANDS • There are more than 5000 islands.

22. MAJOR RIVERS AND LAKES • Three longest river systems in China - Yangzi, Huang He and Xi Jiang, flow west to east to Pacific Ocean. • About 50 per cent of total land area of China drains to Pacific. • Ten per cent drains to the Indian and Arctic oceans. • Major river of North China is Huang He, called “China’s Sorrow” because of devastating flooding throughout history. • Yangzi River of central China is longest river in Asia. • Most important river system of southern China is Xi Jiang. • Important lakes of China situated along middle and lower Yangzi Gorges. • Two largest in middle section are DongtingHu and Poyang Hu. • In summer, they increase their area by two to three times, serving as reservoirs for excess water.

23. CHINA – RIVER BASINS

24. CHINA – SIGNIFICANT WEATHER EVENTS

25. FLOODS DROUGHT CYCLONES FOG THUNDERSTORMS / TORNADOES SAND WHIRL / DUST DEVIL SEA SWELLS HEAVY SNOW DUST STORMS

27. CHINA – SEASONS • Four common distinguished seasons • Winter : December – February • Spring : March – May • Summer : June – August • Autumn : September – November • Winter and summer seasons generally dominate seasonal cycle. • Spring and autumn are transitional seasons. • Due to enormous size of China, length of seasons and their exact dates are overlapping.

28. CHINA – SEASONS • Four determined seasons in China are sometimes modified by two additional seasons which are distinguished by particular weather conditions : • “Mei-Yu” season, confined to the southern provinces of China, represents late Spring and early Summer rains of April, May and June, associated with small depressions extending seawards along East-West oriented trough between Yangtze and the southern coast. • Exhibiting sharp limitation over time and space, "Crachin Season", falls in late February, March and early April. It is characterised by small anticyclones which sometimes move from Asian continent to China sea. Water temperatures are fairly high and thus air is warm and moist, unlike cold and dry continental air. Collision of maritime and continental air masses leads to typical "Crachin" formation of fog or low stratus along coast of China sea.

29. CHINA – EXTREMES • China is a country with vast and extremely complex landforms. • The extremely diverse geography of China affects the climate conditions in numerous ways. • A strong outbreak of the winter monsoon and extremely cold air masses over China can be observed. • In these cases of extremely high wind speeds, storm surges are mostly responsible for fatalities and devastations. • January shows an extremely complex and extraordinarily variable pattern of temperature. • Extremely low winter temperatures, experienced in Northeast China, in particular Heilungkiang Province. • Lowest recorded mean temperature in January is -18.3° C (at Qitai), defining a "cell of coldness" in the Dsungaria. • China’s typhoons accounts for 36% of all tropical cyclones in the world.

30. CHINA – EXTREMES • It can undoubtedly be seen that extreme high summer temperatures occur in Xinjiang. • Even over locations at a higher elevation, the temperature still remains rather high as can be seen at the stations: Kuqa (1,099 m): 25.9° C; Kashi (1,289 m): 25.9° C; Hotan (1,375 m); 25.5° C. • In Xinjiang, an extremely large annual range of temperatures occur which, at the most reaches 420C. • The absolutely highest daily maximum temperatures, even greater than 45°C, so far recorded in China were measured at the following stations:- • Turpan: 49.6° C, on July 13, 1975 • Xi'an : 45.2° C, on July 14, 1934 • Yuncheng, Shanxi Province: 45.0° C, on July 21, 1942

31. CHINA – EXTREMES • A description of extreme minimum temperatures in China is commonly based on threshold values for the daily minimum temperature, that is less than -10 °C, -20 °C, -30 °C and -40 °C. • Coldest areas in China are confined to northeastern most China (Heilungkiang Province), northeasternpart of Inner Mongolia, northern Xinjiang and Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau including surrounding high mountains. • The annual total shows an extremely variable precipitation distribution in China. Mean annual totals vary from less than 25mm to more than 2,000 mm. • Extremely dry conditions are the Dsunga-ria, Qaidam and Western Gobi. • In coastal regions, rainstorms are often associated with extremely high tides. • Extremely long-lasting rainstorms (more than 3 days) occur.

32. CHINA – EXTREMES • Distribution of mean number of days with snow cover shows an extremely variable pattern over space. • In eastern China, recorded number of snow cover days decreases from greater than 150 in northeastern most China to less than 0.1 in southern China. • Number of days with snow cover varies between > 100 and < 10 in western China. • Total area above the snow line, representing the glaciered area, amounts to about 56,500 sq. km, of which 46,640 sq. km (83%) belong to glaciers of Qinghai-Xizang Plateau in Chinese territory. • Due to vast extent of Plateau, extremely high totals of radiation are absorbed by Plateau. • Diurnal range of surface temperature is extremely large over hills. • The number of cloudy days is as high as 20 over extreme southern parts, 10 to 15 days over central parts and 5 to 10 days over northern parts.

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