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Terrestrial water storage (TWS) is an essential element of the water cycle and a key state variable for land surface–atmosphere interaction. This study investigates the changes of TWS in Xinjiang of China in response to climate change, using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)-derived data and ground hydrological/meteorological observations in 2003–2015. The results show that the TWS has an overall significant decreasing trend of −2.8 mm per year. TWS is in a state of surplus in the first half year (from February to July), while it is in a state of deficit in the second half year (from August to next January). The change rates in TWS exhibit strong regional disparities, with profound decreasing trends in Tianshan Mountains and increasing in Kunlun Mountains. Further analyses suggest that the spatial-temporal change of TWS was closely related to the variations in seasonal snow melt and glacier retreat due to temperature and precipitation changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has caused more than 150 million cases of infection to date and poses a serious threat to global public health. In this study, global COVID‐19 data were used to examine the dynamical variations from the perspectives of immunity and contact of 84 countries across the five climate regions: tropical, arid, temperate, and cold. A new approach named Yi Hua Jie Mu is proposed to obtain the transmission rates based on the COVID‐19 data between the countries with the same climate region over the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere. Our results suggest that the COVID‐19 pandemic will persist over a long period of time or enter into regular circulation in multiple periods of 1–2 years. Moreover, based on the simulated results by the COVID‐19 data, it is found that the temperate and cold climate regions have higher infection rates than the tropical and arid climate regions, which indicates that climate may modulate the transmission of COVID‐19. The role of the climate on the COVID‐19 variations should be concluded with more data and more cautions. The non‐pharmaceutical interventions still play the key role in controlling and prevention this global pandemic. Plain Language Summary: In this work, global COVID‐19 data were used to examine the dynamical variations from the perspectives of immunity and contact over five climate regions: tropical, arid, temperate, cold, and polar. A new approach is proposed to obtain the infection rates based on the COVID‐19 data between the countries with the same climate region over the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere. Our results suggest that the COVID‐19 pandemic will persist over a long period of time or enter into regular circulation in multiple periods of 1–2 years. Moreover, it is found that the temperate and cold climate regions have higher infection rates than the tropical and arid climate regions, which indicates that climate may modulate the transmission of COVID‐19. Key Points: A new approached is proposed to predict the future COVID‐19 variations rather than relying on information on other corona virusesCOVID‐19 pandemic will persist in multiple periods of 1–2 yearsThe temperate and cold climate regions have higher infection rates than the tropical and arid climate regions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic activities and climate change affect the type, structure and function of ecosystems, resulting in important changes in vegetation net primary productivity (NPP). Therefore, in this study we used the vegetation photosynthesis model (VPM) to reveal the spatiotemporal variations in NPP in Xinjiang from 2000 to 2019. The impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities on NPP changes were quantified and separated by the residual analysis-control variables (RES-CON) method. The results showed that the average NPP in Xinjiang increased by 17.77% from 2000 to 2019. Anthropogenic activities and climate change generally had a positive impact on NPP from 2000 to 2019. The most important anthropogenic activity was land use and land cover (LULC) transformation from grass to arable land, which significantly increased vegetation productivity. Regarding climate change, precipitation has played a significant role in promoting the productivity of vegetation. Overall, the average contribution of climate change (temperature and precipitation) to NPP variation (21.44%) is much greater than the contribution of anthropogenic activities (3.46%), but in areas where anthropogenic activities occur, the average contribution of anthropogenic activities to NPP variation (75.01%) is much greater than the average contribution of climate change (15.53%). Where there are no anthropogenic activities, the average contribution of climate change to NPP variation is 21.72%. In summary, anthropogenic activities are the main driver of NPP variation in areas where anthropogenic activities occur, while the total area in Xinjiang where climate change is the most important driver is larger than the total area where anthropogenic activities are the dominant driver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]