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Effects of double cropping on summer climate of the North China Plain and neighbouring regions

Nature Climate Change volume 4, pages 615–619 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

The North China Plain (NCP) is one of the most important agricultural regions in Asia and produces up to 50% of the cereal consumed in China each year1,2. To meet increasing food demands without expanding croplands, annual agricultural practice in much of the NCP has changed from single to double cropping3,4. The impact of double cropping on the regional climate, through biophysical feedbacks caused by changes in land surface conditions, remains largely unknown. Here we show that observed surface air temperatures during the inter-cropping season (June and July) are 0.40 °C higher over double cropping regions (DCRs) than over single cropping regions (SCRs), with increases in the daily maximum temperature as large as 1.02 °C. Using regional climate modelling, we attribute the higher temperatures in DCRs to reduced evapotranspiration during the inter-cropping period. The higher surface temperatures in June and July affect low-level circulation and, in turn, rainfall associated with the East Asian monsoon over the NCP and neighbouring countries. These findings suggest that double cropping in the NCP can amplify the magnitude of summertime climate changes over East Asia.

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Figure 1: Changes in crop area and yield.
Figure 2: Warming in double cropping regions during the inter-cropping period (June and July).
Figure 3: Differences of simulated temperatures and surface fluxes between control (CTR) and experiment (EXP) over the double cropping regions (DCRs) and single cropping regions (SCRs) on the NCP.
Figure 4: Simulated impacts of double cropping on the NCP on precipitation and circulation over East Asia.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Korea Ministry of Environment as ‘Climate Change Correspondence R&D Program’, CATER 2012–2040, and NRF 2009-0083527. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or presentation of the manuscript. Part of the research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91011, USA

    Su-Jong Jeong

  2. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-747, Korea

    Chang-Hoi Ho, Yun-Bok Lee & Jong-Ghap Jhun

  3. Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

    Shilong Piao

  4. Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

    Shilong Piao

  5. JIFRESSE and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA

    Jinwon Kim

  6. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, CE l’Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France

    Philippe Ciais

  7. Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-750, Korea

    Seon Ki Park

  8. Department of Atmospheric Science and Engineering, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-750, Korea

    Seon Ki Park

  9. Center for Climate/Environment Change Prediction Research, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-750, Korea

    Seon Ki Park

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  1. Su-Jong Jeong
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Contributions

S-J.J. and C-H.H. designed the study. S-J.J., C-H.H. and Y-B.L. analysed the data and performed model simulations. All authors wrote the manuscript, discussed the results and implications, and commented on the manuscript at all stages.

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Correspondence to Chang-Hoi Ho.

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Jeong, SJ., Ho, CH., Piao, S. et al. Effects of double cropping on summer climate of the North China Plain and neighbouring regions. Nature Clim Change 4, 615–619 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2266

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