Liu et al. (2025) A Comprehensive Long-Term (1981–2020) Radiation Dataset for China: Ensuring Consistency, Comparability, and Incorporating Uncertainty

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Climate
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-08
• Authors: Chang Liu, Xiaoli Ren, Honglin He, Li Zhang, Chao Gao, Qian Zheng, Xueting Wang, C.Y. Li, S DONG, Zining Lin, Han Wu
• DOI: 10.1175/jcli-d-25-0158.1

Research Groups

• China Meteorological Administration (CMA)
• Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN)

Short Summary

This study generated a comprehensive, long-term (1981-2020) radiation dataset for China, including global radiation, diffuse radiation, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and diffuse PAR, along with uncertainty estimates, by combining in situ observations with a Gaussian process regression approach, revealing decreasing trends in global radiation and PAR primarily driven by water vapor.

Objective

• To generate a comprehensive, reliable, and long-term radiation dataset for China from 1981 to 2020, including global radiation, diffuse radiation, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and diffuse PAR, along with corresponding uncertainty estimates.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: China
• Temporal Scale: 1981 to 2020 (40 years)

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Gaussian process regression (GPR) approach, empirical models
• Data sources: In situ observations from the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) and the Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN)

Main Results

• The generated radiation dataset effectively captured interannual and seasonal dynamics of observations, with R² values of 0.69 and 0.89, respectively.
• Spatial uncertainties of the dataset were relatively low, around 1%.
• The dataset exhibited evident spatial heterogeneity, being higher in the southwest and lower in the northeast.
• Annual mean values were: global radiation (5355.63 MJ m⁻² yr⁻¹), diffuse radiation (2411.11 MJ m⁻² yr⁻¹), PAR (2075.78 MJ m⁻² yr⁻¹), and diffuse PAR (1018.99 MJ m⁻² yr⁻¹).
• From 1981 to 2020, global radiation and PAR exhibited decreasing trends with decline rates of -3.62 MJ m⁻² yr⁻¹ and -1.37 MJ m⁻² yr⁻¹, respectively, primarily driven by water vapor.
• Changes in diffuse components were modest, with decline rates of -0.39 MJ m⁻² yr⁻¹ for diffuse radiation and -0.21 MJ m⁻² yr⁻¹ for diffuse PAR, mainly attributable to the combined influence of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and cloud cover.

Contributions

• Provides a comprehensive, consistent, and long-term (40-year) spatiotemporal radiation dataset for China, including global radiation, diffuse radiation, PAR, and diffuse PAR.
• Includes corresponding uncertainty estimates, which are often lacking in existing datasets.
• Offers a valuable resource for investigating the impact of radiation on terrestrial ecosystems, conducting ecosystem modeling, and performing uncertainty analyses.

Funding

• Not specified in the provided abstract.

Citation

@article{Liu2025Comprehensive,
  author = {Liu, Chang and Ren, Xiaoli and He, Honglin and Zhang, Li and Gao, Chao and Zheng, Qian and Wang, Xueting and Li, C.Y. and DONG, S and Lin, Zining and Wu, Han},
  title = {A Comprehensive Long-Term (1981–2020) Radiation Dataset for China: Ensuring Consistency, Comparability, and Incorporating Uncertainty},
  journal = {Journal of Climate},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1175/jcli-d-25-0158.1},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-25-0158.1}
}