Survived Seamount Reveals an in situ Origin for the Central Qiangtang Metamorphic Belt in the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract Snow cover affects the thermal conditions of the Tibetan Plateau through snow–albedo feedback and snowmelt, which, in turn, modulates the Asian summer monsoon climate. An accurate estimation of the snow condition on the Tibetan Plateau is therefore of great importance in both seasonal forecasts and climate studies. Estimation of snow water equivalent (SWE) over the Tibetan Plateau is challenging due to the high altitude, complex terrain, and insufficient in situ observations. Multiple SWE products derived from satellite estimates, reanalyses, regional climate model simulations, and land data assimilations are intercompared in terms of daily, seasonal, and annual variations and are then evaluated against in situ SWE observations. The results show a relatively consistent seasonal to interannual variability of the SWE estimates among the products. The discrepancies in magnitude are large, however, especially in winter and spring. Evaluation against in situ SWE observations indicates that none of these products is capable of accurately characterizing both the spatial pattern and temporal variations.

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Investigating water budget dynamics in 18 river basins across the Tibetan Plateau through multiple datasets

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-22-351-2018 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 351-371 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Wenbin Liu ◽

Fubao Sun ◽

Yanzhong Li ◽

Guoqing Zhang ◽

Yan-Fang Sang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Water Budget ◽

Water Resource Management ◽

Yellow River ◽

Aridity Index ◽

River Basins ◽

Surface Model ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Basin Scale

Abstract. The dynamics of basin-scale water budgets over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are not well understood nowadays due to the lack of in situ hydro-climatic observations. In this study, we investigate the seasonal cycles and trends of water budget components (e.g. precipitation P, evapotranspiration ET and runoff Q) in 18 TP river basins during the period 1982–2011 through the use of multi-source datasets (e.g. in situ observations, satellite retrievals, reanalysis outputs and land surface model simulations). A water balance-based two-step procedure, which considers the changes in basin-scale water storage on the annual scale, is also adopted to calculate actual ET. The results indicated that precipitation (mainly snowfall from mid-autumn to next spring), which are mainly concentrated during June–October (varied among different monsoons-impacted basins), was the major contributor to the runoff in TP basins. The P, ET and Q were found to marginally increase in most TP basins during the past 30 years except for the upper Yellow River basin and some sub-basins of Yalong River, which were mainly affected by the weakening east Asian monsoon. Moreover, the aridity index (PET/P) and runoff coefficient (Q/P) decreased slightly in most basins, which were in agreement with the warming and moistening climate in the Tibetan Plateau. The results obtained demonstrated the usefulness of integrating multi-source datasets to hydrological applications in the data-sparse regions. More generally, such an approach might offer helpful insights into understanding the water and energy budgets and sustainability of water resource management practices of data-sparse regions in a changing environment.

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Calibration of the U 37 K′ index of long-chain alkenones with the in-situ water temperature in Lake Qinghai in the Tibetan Plateau

Chinese Science Bulletin ◽

10.1007/s11434-012-5527-y ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 58 (7) ◽

pp. 803-808 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Zheng Wang ◽

WeiGuo Liu

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Water Temperature ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Lake Qinghai ◽

K Index ◽

Long Chain

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Measurement report: Changing characteristics of atmospheric CH<sub>4</sub> in the Tibetan Plateau: records from 1994 to 2019 at the Mount Waliguan station

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-21-393-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 393-413

Author(s):

Shuo Liu ◽

Shuangxi Fang ◽

Peng Liu ◽

Miao Liang ◽

Minrui Guo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Atmospheric Methane ◽

Continuous Increase ◽

Northern India ◽

Source Regions ◽

City Regions

Abstract. A 26-year, long-term record of atmospheric methane (CH4) measured in situ at the Mount Waliguan (WLG) station, the only World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) global station in inland Eurasia, is presented. Overall, a nearly continuous increase in atmospheric CH4 was observed at WLG, with a yearly growth rate of 5.1±0.1 parts per billion (ppb) per year during 1994–2019, except for some particular periods with near-zero or negative values, e.g., 1999–2000 and 2004–2006. The average CH4 mole fraction was only 1799.0±0.4 ppb in 1994 but increased to about 133 ppb and reached a historic level of 1932.0±0.1 ppb in 2019. The case study in the Tibetan Plateau showed that the atmospheric CH4 increased rapidly. During some special periods, it is even larger than that of city regions (e.g., 6.7±0.2 ppb yr−1 in 2003–2007). Generally, the characteristics of CH4 varied in different observing periods as follows: (i) the diurnal cycle has become apparent and the amplitudes of the diurnal or seasonal cycles increased over time; (ii) the wind sectors with elevated CH4 mole fractions switched from ENE-E-ESE-SE-SSE sectors (wind directions) in early periods to NNE-NE-ENE-E sectors in later years; (iii) the area of source regions increased as the years progressed, and strong sources shifted from northeast (city regions) to southwest (northern India); and (iv) the annual growth rates in recent years (e.g., 2008–2019) were significantly larger than those in the early periods (e.g., 1994–2007).

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Determination of land surface heat fluxes over heterogeneous landscape of the Tibetan Plateau by using the MODIS and in-situ data

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions ◽

10.5194/acpd-11-19617-2011 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 19617-19638 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Y. Ma ◽

L. Zhong ◽

B. Wang ◽

W. Ma ◽

X. Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heat Flux ◽

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Land Surface ◽

Surface Heat ◽

Heat Fluxes ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Surface Heat Fluxes ◽

In Situ Data ◽

Plateau Area

Abstract. In this study, a parameterization methodology based on MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and in-situ data is proposed and tested for deriving the regional surface reflectance, surface temperature, net radiation flux, soil heat flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux over heterogeneous landscape. As a case study, the methodology was applied to the Tibetan Plateau area. Four images of MODIS data (30 January 2007, 15 April 2007, 1 August 2007 and 25 October 2007) were used in this study for the comparison among winter, spring, summer and autumn. The derived results were also validated by using the "ground truth" measured in the stations of the Tibetan Observation and Research Platform (TORP). The results show that the derived surface variables (surface reflectance and surface temperature) and surface heat fluxes (net radiation flux, soil heat flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux) in four different seasons over the Tibetan Plateau area are in good accordance with the land surface status. These parameters show a wide range due to the strong contrast of surface features over the Tibetan Plateau. Also, the estimated land surface variables and surface heat fluxes are in good agreement with the ground measurements, and all their absolute percent difference (APD) is less than 10 % in the validation sites. It is therefore concluded that the proposed methodology is successful for the retrieval of land surface variables and surface heat fluxes using the MODIS and in-situ data over the Tibetan Plateau area. The shortage and further improvement of the methodology were also discussed.

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