Interdecadal Changes of Temperature in the Beijing Region and its Heat Island Effect

Large scale temperature changes and heat island effect in the Beijing region are investigated in this paper using the annual mean temperature data from 1960 to 2000 at 20 meteorological stations. Main conclusions are the following two points. First, the interannual changes of the temperature in the region show a feature of large-scale temperature change. 1981 is a remarkable jump point, the temperature increases by 0.55°C after the jump and the warming rate in the recent 40 years is 0.25°C/10-year. Second, the urban heat island effect in the Beijing region is typical. The averaged urban heat island intensity over 1960~2000 is about 1°C. Along with the acceleration of urban construction and urbanization, the urban heat island intensity is also increasing, and its growth rate in the recent 40 years is 0.31°C/10-year.