Northwest China is an important agro-pastoral interleaved region, with a fragile ecology and agricultural production that is extremely sensitive to climate change. Studying the spatiotemporal distribution of agricultural drought vulnerability is key to effectively coping with drought. Based on the IPCC vulnerability assessment framework, considering the impact of evapotranspiration on soil water content, a multi-timescale drought index was incorporated into the index system, and the entropy weight method was used to measure the vulnerability of agriculture to drought; the spatiotemporal distribution of agricultural drought vulnerability and the evolution of cold and hot spot areas were also analyzed. The results show that the vulnerability of agriculture to drought in the northwest region showed a downward trend from 2010 to 2020, with the largest decline in 2010 to 2015, but the regional equilibrium was weakened and there was a “polar” phenomenon. The cold and hot spots of drought vulnerability in the northwest region changed significantly. In 2010, the hot spots were concentrated in the southwest of Xinjiang, and the cold spots were distributed in the north of Xinjiang and Ningxia. In 2020, the hot spot area shifted to the south of Gansu and Qinghai, and showed an outward radiation phenomenon, while the cold spot area was mainly concentrated in northern Xinjiang.

To examine the characteristics of microbial communities in the surface snow samples from the Glacier No. 1 at the headwaters of Urumqi River, Tianshan Mountains (henceforth referred to as “Urumqi Glacier No. 1”) and their relationship with climate and environment, surface snow samples were collected at an altitude of 3549 m in the spring (April, TSX1), and 3770 m (TSX2) and 3800 m (TSX3) in the summer (June) in the region in 2021. The V3-V4 region of 16S rDNA of bacteria, the V4-V5 region of 16S rDNA of archaea, and the ITS2 region of fungi were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The products were then subjected to high-throughput sequencing, after which the microbial diversity was analyzed. The results showed that the microbial diversity of the surface snow samples from the Urumqi Glacier No. 1 differed in spring and summer, with the bacterial diversity being higher in spring and lower in summer, while the fungal diversity showed the opposite pattern. Proteobacteria (58.13%-89.10%) and Bacteroidetes (4.24%-40.74%) were the dominant bacteria at the phylum level, while Flavobacterium (2.32%-33.64%) and Polaromonas (0.01%-24.72%) were the dominant bacteria at the genus level. Thaumarchaeota (38.10%-97.55%) was the dominant archaea in the three samples, followed by Nanoarchaeaeota (0%-61.90%) and Euryarchaeota (0%-2.82%). Ascomycota (7.06%-88.43%) and Monoblepharidomycota (36.21%-40.78%) were the dominant fungi at the phylum level, and Aspergillus (0.16%-81.04%) and Rhodotorula (0.02%-8.05%) were the dominant fungi at the genus level. Network interaction analysis showed that the microbial network interaction was dominated by the positive correlation connection (97.3%), and the negative correlation connection accounted for 2.7%, and the interactive relationship tended to be cooperative. In summary, the surface snow microbiota of the Urumqi Glacier No.1 was highly diverse, and the seasonal variation in the microbial community reflects the response of microorganisms to atmospheric circulation in different seasons.