The 0°C isotherm altitude is a critical characteristic layer in atmospheric sounding, reflecting the thermal conditions of the middle-lower troposphere. Its vertical fluctuations influence surface processes in mountainous regions—particularly the rise and fall of the 0°C line, which governs the freeze-thaw cycle of water in alpine zones.Using upper-air data from 39 radiosonde stations in western China (with some stations having shorter records since 1979), we derived the summer (June–August) 0°C isotherm height from standard pressure-level altitudes and temperatures. Through Kriging interpolation and regression analysis, we quantified the spatiotemporal variation of the summer 0°C isotherm over the Qaidam Basin from 1985 to 2018. A fishnet tool was applied to statistically analyze the altitude changes per 1 km grid.
The raw data were obtained from China's upper-air meteorological station observations, comprising upper-air measurements from 89 radiosonde stations across China. These data were acquired by the National Meteorological Information Center (NMIC) through the domestic meteorological telecommunication system and include the following variables at standard pressure levels and significant levels: geopotential height, temperature, dew-point temperature, wind direction, and wind speed.
The heights and temperatures of the prescribed layers at 39 high altitude stations in western China were analysed to calculate the heights of the 0°C layer in summer (June-August), and the height distribution of the 0°C layer in summer in the Qaidam Basin was obtained by Kriging interpolation with a spatial resolution of 1 km.
The data quality is good.
| # | number | name | type |
| 1 | 2018YFC0406600 | National key R & D plan |
This work is licensed under
CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License).
CSTR:11738.11.ncdc.Hydro.db2426.2022
10.12072/ncdc.Hydro.db2426.2022
