Climatic regionalization mapping of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, Australia

• Published in: Progress in natural science Vol. 19; no. 12; pp. 1773 - 1779
• Main Authors: Zhou, Demin, Khan, Shahbaz, Abbas, Akhtar, Rana, Tariq, Zhang, Haiying, Chen, Yun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 10.12.2009; Key Laboratory of Resource,Environment and GIS in Beijing,Capital Normal University,Beijing 100037,China; Northeast Institute of Geography and Agro-ecology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Changchan 130012,China%Sustainable Water Resources Development and Management Section,Division of Water Sciences,UNESCO,1,rue Miollis,75015 Paris,France%CSIRO Land and Water University,Canberra,ACT,Australia%Murray Darling Basin Authority,Canberra,ACT,Australia%Northeast Institute of Geography and Agro-ecology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Changchan 130012,China
• Subjects: Agro-climatic regionalization; Climatic zone mapping; GIS; Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area; Regional climatic variation; 区划图; 区域气候变化; 平均降雨量; 澳大利亚; 空间分析技术; 空间聚类分析; Agro-climatic regionalization; GIS; Climatic zone mapping; Regional climatic variation; Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area
• ISSN: 1002-0071
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pnsc.2009.07.007

In this study, spatial analysis techniques were used to generate climatic zoning maps of the East Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area （MIA）, Australia. Long term climate data were used to analyze and assess regional climatic variation by cluster analysis in a GIS environment. Based on thermal and moisture factors, four variables were chosen to develop climate zones. These variables include annual average rainfalls, annual average ETc, annual average Growing Day Degree （GDD） and daily average temperature generated from daily climate data of 36 years （1971-2006） on 12 local weather stations as the fundamental elements of regional climate characteristics. GIS-based spatial analysis models are used to map climate sub-regions from sets of climatic parameters derived from regional climate data sources. Two climate zoning schemes are presented by integration of spatial interpolation, spatial cluster analysis and climate indices methods. One scheme comes with the two climate zones of the West and the East based on spatial cluster analysis according to selected climatic variables, and the other comes with the three comprehensive hydro-thermal zones and the six hydro-thermal balance zones.