Seasonal local temperature responses to paddy field expansion from rain-fed farmland in the cold and humid Sanjiang Plain of China

Abstract

Numerous studies have documented the effects of irrigation on local, regional, and global climate. However, most studies focused on the cooling effect of irrigated dryland in semiarid or arid regions. In our study, we focused on irrigated paddy fields in humid regions at mid to high latitudes and estimated the effects of paddy field expansion from rain-fed farmland on local temperatures based on remote sensing and observational data. Our results revealed much significant near-surface cooling in spring (May and June) rather than summer (July and August) and autumn (September), which was -2.03 K, -0.73 K and -1.08 K respectively. Non-radiative mechanisms dominated the local temperature response to paddy field expansion from rain-fed farmland in the Sanjiang Plain. The contributions from the changes to the combined effects of the non-radiative process were 123.6%, 95.5%, and 66.9% for spring (May and June), summer (July and August), and autumn (September), respectively. Due to the seasonal changes of the biogeophysical properties for rain-fed farmland and paddy fields during the growing season, the local surface temperature responses, as well as their contributions, showed great seasonal variability. Our results showed that the cooling effect was particularly obvious during the dry spring instead of the warm, wet summer, and indicated that more attention should be paid to the seasonal differences of these effects, especially in a region with a relatively humid climate and distinct seasonal variations.