Abstract: The effective accumulated temperature ≥10 ℃ is an important index to measure the heat resources in a zone. So the distribution of effective accumulated temperature ≥10 ℃ affects strongly the distribution of agriculture and ecological pattern. In this study, the values of effective accumulated temperature ≥10 ℃, first day and duration of temperature above 10 ℃ were calculated using the daily data observed by 583 meteorological stations in China during the period from 1961 to 2010. The spatiotemporal evolution of these factors was studied by the inverse distance interpolation and MannKendall trend test on the technical platform of ArcGIS. The result showed there was a significant spatiotemporal change of distribution of effective accumulated temperature ≥10 ℃ in China after 1985. The effective accumulated temperature ≥10 ℃ was in an increase trend with an increased rate of 0-10 ℃•d (10a)^-1, and its isoline center o shifted northward. Area of the regions where the effective accumulated temperature ≥10 ℃ was below 3 400 ℃•d was in a significant reduction. While the area of the regions where the effective accumulated temperature ≥10 ℃ was over 3 400 ℃•d was enlarged with a rate larger than 2.0×10⁴ km² per year. The area of the regions where the first day of temperature ≥10 ℃ became earlier and the duration of which was significantly prolonged was enlarged.

Key words: effective accumulated temperature ≥10 ℃, the first day, duration, MannKendall trend test, China