Changes in the Growing Season Across China during 1961–2018

As global warming intensifies, the growing season changes correspondingly across China. Earlier, pertinent studies of the growing season have only covered short-term periods, used low-resolution horizontal data, and focused on limited regions. Based on these premises, the authors investigated the climatological trends of the start of the growing season (GSS), end of the growing season (GSE), and growing season length (GSL) across China during 1961–2018. The authors used daily mean temperature data from a high-resolution horizontal gridded dataset CN05.1 (0.25°×0.25°). The relationship between the changes in the growing season and seasonal average temperature was also analyzed. The results indicated that the national average GSS and GSE were 31 March and 29 October, respectively, and GSL was 212 d across China during 1961–2018. Spatially, annual average GSS was delayed from southeast to northwest, whereas, GSE showed the opposite trend; GSL decreased from southeast to northwest. In generally, the trends in the national average growing season displayed an early start −1.3 d (10 a)⁻¹, a late end 0.9 d (10 a)⁻¹ , and a long length 2.2 d (10 a)⁻¹ across China from 1961 to 2018. Finally, both the advance of the national average GSS and extension of the GSL were mainly related to increased spring temperatures, whereas, the delay in the GSE originated from increased autumn temperatures.