Open AccessWas Warming Amplified Under Drought Conditions Across China in Observations and Future Projections?
Author(s) -
Wang Lei,
Wang Wen J.,
Du Haibo,
Shen Xiangjin,
Wu Zhengfang,
Ma Shuang,
Liu Zhihua,
Jiang Ming
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
earth's future
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.641
H-Index - 39
ISSN - 2328-4277
DOI - 10.1029/2021ef002614
Subject(s) - environmental science , climate change , climatology , agriculture , china , global warming , greenhouse gas , mean radiant temperature , atmospheric sciences , geography , ecology , biology , geology , archaeology
Concurrent hot extremes and droughts undoubtedly aggravate the impacts of droughts on agriculture, natural environment, and human society. Recent studies mainly focus on the trends and changes in frequency and severity of compound drought and hot extreme events. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the changes in mean temperature during drought conditions. In this study, we investigated the mean temperature changes during droughts in observed and projected periods across China on a century time‐scale and explored the possible contributions of land surface‐atmosphere interactions or atmospheric moisture conditions to these changes. China experienced reduced rather than amplified warming under droughts both in observations and future projections. A drier condition or a higher emission scenario was projected to result in a larger range of mean temperature changes under droughts in the future. We attributed the reduced mean temperatures under droughts to increasing winter droughts and higher atmospheric moisture conditions. This study provides a reference for water resource management, drought risk reduction, as well as mitigation of agricultural crop loss and public health damage.