The Climate of China

The Climate of China is the comprehensive reference manual for scientists concerned with the physical environment of China, in particular climatology and geography. Special attention is given to the following topics: the relevant parameters for climate formation in China, the climatic elements and their regional and temporal variations, the climatic regionalization of China, and an aero-climatic analysis. A statistical section containing the monthly means of the major climatic parameters for a total of 50 stations over a period of 30 years is included. The book is based on a sound analysis of long-term averages of climatic observations from 280 stations carried out with particular reference to the atmospheric conditions.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949there has been a rapid advance in climatology in China. The number of climatological stations has increased from less than 100 to more than of Chinese climatologists covers various 2,000, and the research work fields. The climate of China is no longer just a description of the average weather for an area or locality, but covers many fields such as the monsoon climate, the fluctuation of climate, the spatial and temporal variations of the climatic elements and physical and dynam- ic climate. Four books on the climate of China, written in Chinese, have been published so far. There is, however, no excellent book written in English on the climate of China, although Volume 8 of the World Survey oj Climatology, dealing with the climates of northern and eastern Asia, edited by H. Arakawa in 1969, contains a chapter on the climate of China and Korea written by LE. M. Watts. The data sources for China are based mainly on observations from 1940-1952 and the climatological charts of China published by the Central Weather Bureau of China in 1953 and 1955. This monograph on The Climate ojChina by Prof. Dr. M. Dom- ros and Prof. Peng Gongbing is the first comprehensive and advanced book in English on the climate of China.

Contents: Introduction.- Controlling Factors of the Climate.- Circulation.- Temperature.- Precipitation.- Cloudiness and Sunshine.- Surface Wind.- Climate Classification and Division of China.- Climate Zones of China.- Appendix: Climate Tables.- References.- Subject Index.