While heatwaves in the atmosphere and oceans are well documented, soil heatwaves under climate change remain largely unknown. This gap is critical as soil provides a host of vital ecosystem services, which are highly vulnerable to soil heat extremes. Here, we present a nationwide assessment of historical soil heatwave changes across the Mainland of China using an observational homogenized soil temperature dataset. We find that deeper soils experience less intense but longer-lasting heatwaves than shallower ones. Since 1960, soil heatwave frequency, duration, and intensity have increased in all depths, with deeper soils showing greater increases in duration and smaller increases in intensity. These trends have been accelerated recently by ∼50% (∼100%) in shallow (deep) soils during 1990–2017, relative to 1960–2017. Around 60.4% of China’s croplands are facing increasing exposure to soil heatwaves, especially in major breadbaskets such as the North China Plain. Our findings underscore the growing urgency of understanding soil heatwave behaviors and impacts.
Observations from the Little Bunker
Last updated: January 08, 2026 02:15 PM
Atmospheric CO₂
428.3 ppm
+17.4
ppm/year
Atmospheric CH₄
1940.59 ppb
+-0.24
ppb/year
Global Temperature
+1.48 °C
Peak: +1.73°C
World Population
8.1 billion
+67
million/year