Akesu Water Balance Research Station - China

The station has a arid moderate climate, with a annual temperature of 11.2 ℃ but higher in summer and lower in winter relative to areas with the same latitude. Due to dramatic temperature fluctuation in spring and autumn, frozen damage resulted from low temperature in spring and early cooling in autumn often occurs. The annual mean precipitation is as low as 45.7 mm, thus rivers are charged mainly by precipitation in mountains and snowmelt. Frozen-free day, sunshine duration and annual mean wind velocity are, respectively, 207 d, 2940 h and 2.4 m/s. Disaster weather includes dust storm in spring, hail and accidentally continuous high temperature in summer.Aksu station (E80°51′, N40°37′, 1028 m a.s.l.), found in 1982 and affiliated with Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, was listed in the top-5 stations for irrigation experiment in Xinjiang and became a member of special environment and disaster detection network, CAS in 2002. After development of years, it entered National Field Station Network and Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN) in 2005. The station is located in the source area of Tarim River where its three headstreams (i.e., Aksu, Yeerqiang and Hetian River) converge, and the vastest oasis develops in Tarim Basin under the hyperarid environments. This area is typical of Tarim Basin for dramatic watercourse meandering and great agro-water consumption, thus forming a ideal experimental field for monitoring and researching water, salt and nutrient processes in oasis cropland system, as well as for exploring sustainable oasis agriculture, theory and technologic demonstration of water-saving irrigation.