Temporal-spatial variations of temperature during 1961-2006 in Qinghai Province

【Objective】 This research focused on the temporal-spatial variations of temperature during 1961-2006 in Qinghai Province.【Method】 The temporal-spatial variations,mutation years and the climate trendencies of mean,maximum and minimum temperatures,extreme maximum,and minimum temperatures of Qinghai Province from 1961 to 2006 were obtained from observed daily maximum and minimum temperatures at 40 stations by Mann-Kendall and ArcGIS 9.3.【Result】 The temperatures of Qinghai Province showed significant temporal increase except Henan,Qilian and Tuotuohe stations.The mutation years of the mean and extreme maximum temperatures were in year 1994 and 1995,and there was no mutation for the mean and extreme minimum temperatures.Statistics analyses of mutation indicated the mean,extreme maximum and minimum temperatures had the highest mutation probability during the 1990s,while the mean minimum temperatures had a high mutation probability after 2000.There was no clear differnce of the warming trend of the mean and extreme maximum temperatures spatially.However,the mean and extreme minimum temperatures increasing from southeast to northwest showed significant regional differences.【Conclusion】 Global warming and different physiognomy types might be responsible for climate change and its obvious regional differences in Qinghai Province.