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Meteorological disasters are one of the major risks to agricultural production, causing huge losses to agriculture. Agricultural insurance is an important part of the agricultural security system and can effectively spread agricultural risks and losses. Weather index insurance, which emerged in the late 1990s, has received a lot of attention, research, and applications due to its objectivity, standardization, and robust liquidity. In this paper, authors analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of weather index insurance compared to traditional agricultural insurance. The development of weather index insurance technology at home and abroad was reviewed. Authors introduced the development and practical application of weather index insurance model for Anhui grain crops (winter wheat, one season rice, summer corn), and discussed and prospected the future development of weather index insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation phenology and its spatiotemporal driving factors are essential to reflect global climate change, the surface carbon cycle and regional ecology, and further quantitative studies on spatiotemporal heterogeneity and its two-way driving are needed. Based on MODIS phenology, meteorology, land cover and other data from 2001 to 2019, this paper analyzes the phenology change characteristics of the Yangtze River Delta from three dimensions: time, plane space and elevation. Then, the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of phenology and its driving factors are explored with random forest and geographic detector methods. The results show that (1) the advance of start of season (SOS) is insignificant—with 0.17 days per year; the end of season (EOS) shows a significant delay—0.48 days per year. The preseason temperature has a greater contribution to SOS, while preseason precipitation is main factor in determining EOS. (2) Spatial differences of the phenological index do not strictly obey the change rules of latitude at a provincial scale. The SOS of Jiangsu and Anhui is earlier than that of Zhejiang and Shanghai, and EOS shows an obvious double-clustering phenomenon. In addition, a divergent response of EOS with elevation grades is found; the most significant changes are observed at grades below 100 m. (3) Land cover (LC) type is a major factor of the spatial heterogeneity of phenology, and its change may also be one of the insignificant factors driving the interannual change of phenology. Furthermore, nighttime land surface temperature (NLST) has a relatively larger contribution to the spatial heterogeneity in non-core urban areas, but population density (PD) contributes little. These findings could provide a new perspective on phenology and its complex interactions between natural or anthropogenic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the evolvement mechanism of hydrological elements under climate change and the interaction impacts, the hydro-meteorological elements, like temperature, precipitation, runoff, and evaporation, are studied by statistical analysis method and cause analysis approach in this paper. Initially, in terms of climate change across Anhui province, the average temperature data from 1960 to 2009 at 15 meteorological stations are selected from China Meteorological Data Sharing Network to analyze the spatio-temporal variation of temperature characteristics. Secondly, from the perspective of Xin'anjiang Basin, evolution rules of hydro-meteorological elements are studied through deviation variation of every 10 years and the long-term development trend from 1981 to 2010 at 9 hydrological stations. And the influence of climate change on runoff is analyzed according to the principle of runoff formation, and the response of runoff to precipitation and temperature is predicted with the simulating future climate change by climate models. The results show that, through statistics, the average temperature in Anhui province is in a fluctuating downward state from 1960 to 1990. After 1990, the uptrend is significant. In Xin'anjiang Basin, the annual precipitation declines overally, especially at some stations it is obvious. The variation of runoff is in a downtrend consistent with precipitation, but it is not noticeable, taken as a whole. The average evaporation changes unremarkably, except in summer and winter. Under three scenarios of A1B, A2 and B1, it is assumed that temperature, precipitation and runoff are all increasing in the future. Through cause analysis, these mainly seem to be affected by the circulation of weather background and sea surface temperature. Based on the analysis of hydro-meteorological elements under climate change and the forecasting of their future changes, the development of regional water resources can be grasped which is of great significance for human interests to water supply scheme, water conservancy project planning, and the economic-social sustainablility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A dynamic two-stage SBM model with non-discretionary variables is proposed. • China's CPLR efficiency under four scenarios of extreme temperatures is measured. • The influences of extreme temperatures on the CPLR efficiency are highlighted. • A comparative analysis of CPLR efficiency under four scenarios is provided. With the influence of climate changes resulting in more extremely days, we might expect to face a rise in associated coal productivity losses and land destruction. Numerous studies have focused on measuring the efficiency of coal production system. Yet scant studies have considered their internal structure, reconstructed lands, and especially the impact of extreme temperatures. Then, this paper divided such a system into stages of coal production (CP) and land reconstruction (LR), named the CPLR system. This study proposes a modified two-stage dynamic slacks-based measure model with non-discretionary variables for measuring the CPLR efficiency under four scenarios of extreme temperatures. The results are as follows. (1) The CPLR system for 24 provinces under four scenarios spanning 2012 to 2017 had relatively low efficiency except for Fujian, Inner Mongolia and Sichuan, which is mainly caused by the bad performance of the LR system. (2) Extreme temperatures must be considered in measuring CPLR efficiency and its stage efficiency, or otherwise the underestimation of CPLR efficiency and CP efficiency will become in 18 provinces. The negative impacts of extreme temperatures on the efficiency of reconstructed lands and raw coal production should be noticed, especially for Anhui. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]