Abstract:Based on observation data from 21 meteorological stations in the Shiyang River Basin from 1957 to 2021, the wind erosion climatic factor index (C factor) was calculated for the Shiyang River Basin. Methods such as Pearson correlation analysis, Mann Kendall (M-K) detection, inverse distance weight interpolation and principal component analysis were employed to analyze the trends and abrupt change characteristics of C factor at annual, seasonal and spatial scales, along with an analysis of relevant influencing factors. The results showed that C factor of the Shiyang River Basin from 1957 to 2021 ranged from 5 to 146, and the average value of the whole basin was 37.Spatially, C factor was higher in the northern desert and along the mountainous areas, and lower in the central oasis areas. The maximum C factor of 145.6 was observed in Hongshagang of Minqin desert area in the northern part of the basin, and the minimum C factor of 5.5 appeared in Tumen of Gulang oasis area of the basin. The basin's C factor showed significant seasonal variations, with the highest in spring, followed by summer, and the lowest in autumn and winter with little difference between them. The sum of C factor in spring and summer accounted for 61.2% of the annual total. On different time scales, the C factor showed a significant declining trend following an abrupt change around 1997, which was most likely caused by the significant abrupt change of wind speed around 1997 in the basin. The primary dynamic factors influencing the basin's C factor were the cumulative number of days with strong wind, cumulative number of sandstorm days and wind speed. The wind erosion climatic erosivity in the Shiyang River Basin was strong, with wind speed identified as the most crucial meteorological factor influencing the basin's C factor.