Arid Zone Research ›› 2025, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (2): 384-396.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2025.02.17

• Agricultural Ecology • Previous Articles    

Characteristics and development potential analysis of agricultural solar-thermal resources in the Tarim Basin

WEN Di1(), LYU Aifeng2, LI Taohui3, ZHANG Wenxiang1()   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Plateau Geographic Processes and Environment Change of Yunnan Province, Faculty of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, Yunnan, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
    3. Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disasters and Climate Resources in the Greater Mekong Subregion, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, Yunnan, China
  • Received:2024-10-14 Revised:2024-12-09 Online:2025-02-15 Published:2025-02-21
  • Contact: ZHANG Wenxiang E-mail:1159673486@qq.com;wenxiangzhang@ynnu.edu.cn

Abstract:

Agricultural solar thermal resources are the core advantage in the national strategy of the Tarim Basin’s western development. However, there has been no comprehensive quantitative assessment of the potential for developing agricultural solar thermal resources in the Tarim Basin. Based on the analysis of the inter-annual trend and spatial pattern characteristics of agricultural solar thermal resources in 42 counties in the Tarim Basin, this study established a comprehensive evaluation index system and used the entropy-weight TOPSIS method and Mann-Kendall trend test to evaluate the potential for developing agricultural solar thermal resources in the Tarim Basin. The results revealed that (1) between 1990 and 2020, the agricultural solar thermal resources in the Tarim Basin, including annual sunshine hours, annual solar radiation, annual active heat accumulation above 10 ℃, and annual mean temperature, exhibited an upward trend, while the number of days with at least three hours of effective sunshine and annual evaporation displayed a downward trend. (2) a significant spatial imbalance was observed in the agricultural solar thermal resources in the Tarim Basin, and different indicators displayed different spatial differentiation patterns, forming obvious spatial features of high and low agricultural solar thermal resources aggregation distribution. (3) a significant spatial difference was observed in the potential for developing agricultural solar thermal resources in the Tarim Basin, with an average score of 0.199. The highest score of 0.578 was observed in Zhalay County, which was more than six times higher than in Keping County, with 0.094. These results reveal a “multicore” distribution pattern. The findings can provide a realistic reference for the development and utilization of agricultural solar thermal resources in the Tarim Basin and help improve the local resource utilization efficiency.

Key words: Tarim Basin, agricultural solar-thermal resources, spatiotemporal pattern, developing potential, entropy-weight TOPSIS method