Welcome to Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin,

Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2015, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (28): 184-189.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb15040075

Special Issue: 园艺 农业气象

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Basic Climate Characteristics and Variation Trends of Frost in Ningxia Sand Melon-Growing Regions

Guo Xiaolei 1, Zhang Lei2, Hou Xiaohui3, Cheng Jing1, Ding Jie1   

  1. (1The Yinchuan Meteorological Bureau, Yinchuan 750002; 2The Institute of Ningxia Meteorological Science, Yingchuan 750002;3Ningxia Meteorological Service Centre, Yinchuan 750002)
  • Received:2015-04-09 Revised:2015-06-24 Accepted:2015-07-13 Online:2015-10-27 Published:2015-10-27

Abstract: The yields of selenium sand melon is the major income source of the farmers in the Huanxiang Mountain region. The frost has caused huge damages to the selenium sand melon in the region. In order to develop effective technologies to prevent such losses, this paper presents a detailed analysis based on a half century climate records of frost of the Huangxiang Mountain region. Combining with the frost climate index, we analyzed the lowest temperature data collected from five meteorological stations including Zhongwei, Zhongning, Haiyuan, Tongxin and Xingren in the selenium sand melon growing regions in nearly 50 years. The basic climate characteristics and variation trends of frost in the Ningxia sand melon growing regions were obtained. The results showed that the date of the last frost gradually occurred early over the years. The variation trend of frost with temperature ≤2℃ was most significant, and followed by that of the frost with temperature ≤0℃. The frost with temperature ≤-2℃ had the slowest variation. The occurrences of mild, moderate and severe spring frost were gradually decreasing over the years. The mild spring frost had the least occurrence rate. The occurrence frequencies of the moderate and severe spring frost were very close and they both slowly reduced. The variation trend of the frost occurrence in recent 50 years was not obvious in the selenium sand melon growing regions. Though the study shows that the occurrence of the moderate and severe frost is gradually decreasing since 2006, it is still important to prevent the frost damage.