Historical and Future Changes in Extreme Climate Events and Their Effects on Vegetation on the Mongolian Plateau

Abstract

Climate change has increased the frequency of extreme climate events, with different regions showing different sensitivities to these events. In this study, the full subset regression analysis, correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis were used to analyze trends of extreme climate changes and their effects on vegetation on the Mongolian Plateau from both historical and future perspectives. The results showed significant increasing and decreasing trends in extreme warming and extreme cooling indices, respectively, over the past three decades. The extreme temperature indices and precipitation trends under three scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5 scenarios) were consistent with historical trends, and the rates at which temperature and precipitation increased were positively correlated with increasing radiation intensity. In comparison with historical changes, there were gradual increases in areas of regions with increasing temperature and precipitation and decreases in areas with decreasing precipitation. There was an overall increasing trend in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of the Mongolian Plateau, and the indices that had the greatest influence on the NDVI during the analysis of climate extremes were: (1) the number of days of heavy rainfall (R20); (2) the number of summer days (SU25) and; (3) high extreme daily minimum temperature (TNx). There was an increasing trend in the NDVI from 2021 to 2080, and the rate of the NDVI increase decreased with increasing radiation intensity. The rates of change in the NDVI under all three scenarios were lower than that of the historical period.