Climate Variation of Different Elevation Zones in Qilian Mountains

A long-term observation was conducted to analyze the climate variation of different elevation zones in Qilian Mountains. The automatic observation started in 1958, and the manual observation started in 2003. Observation stations are set up in the forest, steppe and desert belts respectively. Analyzing results showed that the mean temperature increased year by year, but the precipitation decreased year after year. The annual mean temperature was negatively correlated with annual precipitation, and the annual sunshine hours was positively correlated with annual evaporation. Linear equations of annual mean temperature in three elevation zones all had positive slope, being 0.0182, 0.0427 and 0.01167 respectively from desert to steppe and to forest belt. The ground temperature, sunshine hours and evaporation fall into variation order of desertgrasslandforest.