A Preliminary Analysis of the Relationship between Precipitation Variation Trends and Altitude in China

Abstract Characteristics of the relationship between precipitation variation trends (PVT) and altitude were analyzed using monthly mean precipitation data from 526 observation stations in China from 1961 to 2008. With respect to elevation, China was divided into three subregions, below 200 m, 2007–1500 m, and above 1500 m. The results showed that the correlations between annual PVT and altitude are different among the three regions. In the region below 200 m in elevation, the best relationship has a correlation coefficient of –0.19 (0.49), passing the 90% (99.9%) significance level south (north) of 35°N. However, the correlation coefficient is close to zero, and the latitude strongly governs the spatial distribution of the amplitude of annual PVT in the 200–1500-m elevation region. In most of the Tibetan Plateau, where the elevation is greater than 1500 m, there is a weak negative correlation. The Mann-Kendall method was used to test the trend of regional mean annual precipitation, which indicated that the annual mean precipitation had no obvious trend of change in China due to the reverse significant variation trends in different areas of the country.

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