This study analyzed the applicability of five long-term precipitation datasets in the Hang-Jia-Hu Plain of eastern China based on meteorological observation data. The accuracy of each dataset at different time scales (yearly, monthly) was analyzed. Besides, their spatiotemporal distributions and differences in precipitation event frequency were also compared. The results indicate that the high-resolution (1 day, 1 km) and long-term (1961–2019) gridded dataset for temperature and precipitation across China (HRLT) exhibited the best overall performance at the annual scale, while the long-term, gauge-based gridded precipitation dataset for the Chinese mainland (CHM_PRE) performed the best at the monthly scale. The dataset of monthly precipitation with a resolution of 1 km in China from 1960 to 2020 (HHU) and the China Meteorological Forcing Dataset (CMFD) tend to overestimate the local precipitation amounts, while the other three products are characterized by an underestimation. The mean result of the five datasets indicates a slight, statistically insignificant rise in precipitation, by 4.19 mm annually, with an overall multi-year average of 1303.28 mm. The analysis of the five datasets successfully captures the spatial precipitation patterns across the Hang-Jia-Hu Plain, characterized by higher precipitation levels in the southwest and lower in the northeast. Although the interannual variability displays general consistency, there are significant discrepancies in the interannual growth rates and the spatial distribution of significance across different regions. This study can provide a reference for the accuracy of precipitation data in the fields of hydrology, meteorology, agriculture, and ecology, facilitating the analysis of uncertainties in related research.
The intense changes in glaciers in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau (SETP) have essential impacts on regional water resource management. In order to study the seasonal fluctuations of glaciers in this region and their relationship with climate change, we focus on the Yigong Zangbo River Basin in the SETP, extract the annual and seasonal variations of glaciers in the basin during 2018–2023, and analyze their spatio-temporal characteristics through the seasonal-trend decomposition using the LOESS (STL) method. Finally, combining the Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model and the Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) model, we assess the comprehensive impact of meteorological factors such as temperature and snowfall on glacier changes. The results indicate that glaciers in the Yigong Zangbo River Basin experienced remarkable mass loss during 2018–2023, with an average annual melting rate of −0.83 ± 0.12 m w.e.∙yr−1. The glacier mass exhibits marked seasonal fluctuations, with increases in January–March (JFM) and April–June (AMJ) and noticeable melting in July–September (JAS) and October–December (OND). The changes over these four periods are 2.12 ± 0.04 m w.e., 0.93 ± 0.15 m w.e., −1.58 ± 0.19 m w.e., and −1.32 ± 0.17 m w.e., respectively. Temperature has been identified as the primary meteorological driver of glacier changes in the study area, surpassing the impact of snowfall. This study uses advanced altimetry data and meteorological data to monitor and analyze glacier changes, which provides valuable data for cryosphere research and also validates a set of replicable research methods, which provides support for future research in related fields.