Abstract: Temperature in mountainous areas is mainly determined and decided by the solar radiation, and the distribution on the surface of the earth is closely and inescapably related to the regional topographic conditions, especially in mountainous areas. The GIS analysis technology and DEM as well as the data of temperature observation, slope of the terrain, slope aspect, terrain shading areas and other factors were used and utilized in this study on the basis of the traditional temperature statistical model. The purposes of this study were to carry out small-scale simulation and correction of air temperature in mountainous area, and to build a distributed mountainous terrain correction model. The results indicated that the values simulated by the modified model were better than those by the conventional temperature statistical model. The temperature distribution patterns and trends in the Tianshan mountainous areas were consistent with those obtained by other methods. The difference of temperature and space distribution was the lowest in winter but the highest in summer. The lapse rate of seasonal temperature variation was in an order of summer>spring>autumn>winter, and there was an obvious temperature inversion in a vertical zone of 1 000-2 000 m a.s.l. in winter. The change rate of the temperature with slop was the highest in a slope range of 0°-15°. The modified model is feasible and viable method for high-precision calculation of spatial distribution of air temperature in any regional unit in mountainous area, and could be referred a certain reference value for researching the air temperature simulation and ecological hydrological processes in mountainous areas.

Key words: DEM, temperature, solar radiation, distributed mountain terrain correction model, Tianshan Mountains