Spatiotemporal variation of climate of different flanks and elevations of the Qinling–Daba mountains in China during 1969–2018

Climate change exhibits great variation on different flanks and at different elevations in the same mountain range. To investigate the complexity of the geographic patterns of climate and phenology in the Qinling–Daba mountains (QDM), in the North–South transition zone of China, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of daily air temperature and precipitation data measured at 118 national weather stations (1969–2018). The principal findings were as follows. (1) Overall, a significant trend of warming was detected in all seasons over the past 50 years, with rates of increase of 0.347, 0.125, 0.200 and 0.302 °C/10a, in spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively. Precipitation did not show significant variation at most stations in different seasons. (2) The rising rate of air temperature varied considerably between different flanks. Generally, air temperature change on northern flanks was greater than on southern flanks in all seasons. The tendency of air temperature change was greater in spring and winter than in summer and autumn on different flanks in the QDM. (3) The rate of increase in high-elevation regions was greater than in low-elevation regions in summer, autumn and winter, e.g., 0.440, 0.390 and 0.456 °C/10a at 3000–4000 m and 0.205, 0.218 and 0.303 °C/10a at 0–1000 m, respectively. However, in spring, the rate of increase in low-elevation regions were higher than in high-elevation regions, e.g., 0.369 °C/10a at 0–1000 m and 0.317 °C/10a at 3000–4000 m.