PROGRESSES AND PROSPECTS IN RESEARCH ON SEASON DIVISION AND SEASONAL CHANGES IN CHINA

Progresses in the research for season division and seasonal changes are reviewed systematically in this paper,which particularly introduces the results of a national natural science foundation project,"the nonlinear identification of seasonal changes and its responses to global warming".The project developed two objective and quantitative methods for season division:the non-linear similarity measure(NSM) method and the regional multi-element optimal dissection(RMOD) method,which differ from traditional ones for season division.Besides,the project further investigated seasonal changes and their responses to global warming,analyzed evolution characteristics of the starting date and length of seasons in history,revealed their relationships with extreme events and precipitation patterns in rainy seasons,and thereby built a research system for seasonal changes in China under the global warming background.Finally,the authors make an outlook on the research for season division and seasonal changes and put forward several issues associated with season and climate changes that need to be further explored.