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As a kind of renewable energy, the development and utilization of solar energy is valued by many countries. Sunshine duration (SD), as an important factor to measure solar energy, has also been widely discussed as relevant in terms of distribution and variation. The spatial patterns and variation trends in SD and related factors (wind speed, precipitation, relative humidity, mean temperature and elevation) over mainland China have been studied based on data from 569 meteorological stations during 1961–2016. The results indicated that annual SD decreased significantly at the rate of −40.7 h/10a over mainland China and the decline trend was the most pronounced in the 1980s. Seasonally, the decline rate in SD was the largest in summer (−16.8 h/10a), followed by winter (−9.9 h/10a), autumn (−9.5 h/10a) and spring (−4.5 h/10a), respectively. Spatially, the decline trend in SD was significantly higher in the eastern region than in the western region during 1961–2016, especially in North China. SD was positively correlated with wind speed (R = 0.76); however, it was negatively correlated with mean temperature (R = −0.60) and precipitation (R = −0.41). Moreover, altitude and population density may affect the values and variations of annual SD over mainland China. This study provides a new perspective for the reduction of SD in mainland of China. The drastic changes in SD, such as abrupt changes and sudden decreases, were closely related to volcanic eruptions. Among them, the mean mutation and sudden decrease of SD in the 1980s were due to the long-time weakening of the aerosol accumulated by multiple volcanic eruptions. After the volcanic eruptions in the early 1990s, volcanic aerosols were gradually dissipating, resulting in a small rebound in SD.

Reduction in Sunshine Duration and Related Factors over Mainland China during 1961–2016