Spatiotemporal pattern of climate change in the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor from 1901 to 2018

The China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) is an important part of China's Belt and Road Initiative and an important area for global ecology and biodiversity. In this study, the annual and seasonal spatiotemporal patterns of temperature and precipitation in the CMEC over the past century were investigated using linear tendency estimation, the Mann-Kendall mutation test, the T-test, and wavelet analysis based on the monthly mean climatic data from 1901 to 2018 released by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, UK. The results show that the CMEC demonstrated a trend of warming and drying over the past 100 years, and the rate of change in Myanmar was stronger than that in Yunnan Province of China. The warming rate was 0.039 degrees C/10a. Precipitation decreased at a rate of -6.1 mm/10a. From the perspective of spatial distribution, temperature was high in the central and southern, low in the north of the CMEC, and the high-temperature centers were mainly distributed in the southern plain and river valley. Precipitation decreased from west to east and from south to north of the CMEC. From the perspective of the rate of change, warming was stronger in central and northern CMEC than in southern and northeastern CMEC. The rate of precipitation decline was stronger in the central and western regions than in the eastern region. This study provides a scientific reference for the CMEC to address climate change and ensure sustainable social and economic development and ecological security.