Abstract. The Chinese Tian Shan (also known as the Chinese Tianshan Mountains, CTM) have a complex ecological
environmental system. They not only have a large number of desert oases but
also support many glaciers. The arid climate and the shortage of water
resources are the important factors restricting the area's socioeconomic
development. This study presents a unique high-resolution (1 km, 6-hourly)
air temperature data set for the Chinese Tian Shan
(41.1814–45.9945∘ N, 77.3484–96.9989∘ E) from 1979
to 2016 based on a robust elevation correction framework. The data set was
validated by 24 meteorological stations at a daily scale. Compared to
original ERA-Interim temperature, the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient
increased from 0.90 to 0.94 for all test sites. Approximately 24 % of the
root-mean-square error was reduced from 3.75 to 2.85 ∘C. A skill
score based on the probability density function, which was used to validate
the reliability of the new data set for capturing the distributions,
improved from 0.86 to 0.91 for all test sites. The data set was able to
capture the warming trends compared to observations at annual and seasonal
scales, except for winter. We concluded that the new high-resolution data
set is generally reliable for climate change investigation over the Chinese
Tian Shan. However, the new data set is expected to be further
validated based on more observations. This data set will be helpful for
potential users to improve local climate monitoring, modeling, and
environmental studies in the Chinese Tian Shan. The data set
presented in this article is published in the Network Common Data Form
(NetCDF) at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.887700. The data set includes 288 nc files
and one user guidance txt file.
A high-resolution air temperature data set for the Chinese Tian Shan in 1979–2016