Spatiotemporal evolution of ≥10℃ accumulated temperature in Qinghai Province (1960–2022)

A temperature of 10℃ marks the baseline for the growth of thermophilic crops and the optimal range for rapid development of cryophilic crops. The accumulated temperature ≥10℃ plays a critical role in agroclimatic zoning, rational crop structure allocation, and predictions of phenological phases and pest outbreaks. To investigate the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of ≥10℃ accumulated temperature in Qinghai Province under climate change, and to scientifically utilize thermal resources by understanding its variation trends, this study analyzed daily meteorological data from 35 national meteorological stations in Qinghai Province (1960–2022) using inverse distance weighting (IDW) interpolation. Results indicate that the ≥10℃ accumulated temperature in Qinghai Province ranges from 17°C to 2829°C, exhibiting a spatial pattern of higher values in central regions and lower values in northern/southern areas. Under global warming, clarifying the spatial distribution of accumulated temperature provides targeted insights for adjusting agroclimatic zoning and optimizing thermal resource utilization in Qinghai Province.