Review on global change status and its impacts on the Tibetan Plateau environment

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 917-930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aamir Latif ◽  
Sana Ilyas ◽  
Yangjian Zhang ◽  
Yuqin Xin ◽  
Lin Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Global Change ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Permafrost Degradation ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Significant Temperature ◽  
Research Gap

Abstract The Tibetan Plateau (TP) holds fundamental ecological and environmental significances to China and Asia. The TP also lies in the core zone of the belt and road initiative. To protect the TP environment, a comprehensive screening on current ecological research status is entailed. The teased out research gap can also be utilized as guidelines for the recently launched major research programs, i.e. the second TP scientific expedition and silk and belt road research plan. The findings showed that the TP has experienced significant temperature increase at a rate of 0.2°C per decade since 1960s. The most robust warming trend was found in the northern plateau. Precipitation also exhibited an increasing trend but with high spatial heterogeneity. Changing climates have caused a series of environmental consequences, including lake area changes, glacier shrinkage, permafrost degradation and exacerbated desertification. The rising temperature is the main reason behind the glaciers shrinkage, snow melting, permafrost degradation and lake area changes on the TP and neighboring regions. The projected loss of glacial area on the plateau is estimated to be around 43% by 2070 and 75% by the end of the century. Vegetation was responsive to the changed environments, varied climates and intensified human activities by changing phenology and productivity. Future global change study should be more oriented toward integrating various research methods and tools, and synthesizing diverse subjects of water, vegetation, atmosphere and soil.

scholarly journals Growth of a high-elevation large inland lake, associated with climate change and permafrost degradation in Tibet

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 5445-5469 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Liu ◽  
S. Kang ◽  
T. Gong ◽  
A. Lu
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Annual Runoff ◽  
Annual Precipitation ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Permafrost Degradation ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Pan Evaporation ◽  
Inland Lake ◽  
Precipitation Increase

Abstract. This study analyzed satellite images and long term climate variables from a high-elevation meteorological station (4730 m) and streamflow records to examine hydrological response of Nam Co Lake (4718 m), the largest lake on the Tibetan Plateau, over the last 50 years. The results show the lake area extended by 51.8 km2 (2.7% of the total area) when compared with the area in 1976. This change is associated with an annual precipitation increase of 65 mm (18.6%), annual and winter mean temperature increases of 0.9°C and 2.1°C respectively, an annual runoff increase of 20% and an annual pan evaporation decrease of about 2%, during the past 20 years. The year of the change point in annual precipitation, air temperature, annual pan evaporation and runoff occurred in 1971, 1983, 1997 and 1997, respectively. The timing of the lake growth corresponds with the abrupt increase in annual precipitation and runoff since the mid-1990s. This study suggests a strong positive water balance in the largest inland lake on the Tibetan Plateau.

scholarly journals Contrasting Evolution Patterns of Endorheic and Exorheic Lakes on the Central Tibetan Plateau and Climate Cause Analysis during 1988–2017

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 1962
Author(s):  
Zhilong Zhao ◽  
Yue Zhang ◽  
Zengzeng Hu ◽  
Xuanhua Nie
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Annual Precipitation ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
Mean Temperature

The alpine lakes on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are indicators of climate change. The assessment of lake dynamics on the TP is an important component of global climate change research. With a focus on lakes in the 33° N zone of the central TP, this study investigates the temporal evolution patterns of the lake areas of different types of lakes, i.e., non-glacier-fed endorheic lakes and non-glacier-fed exorheic lakes, during 1988–2017, and examines their relationship with changes in climatic factors. From 1988 to 2017, two endorheic lakes (Lake Yagenco and Lake Zhamcomaqiong) in the study area expanded significantly, i.e., by more than 50%. Over the same period, two exorheic lakes within the study area also exhibited spatio-temporal variability: Lake Gaeencuonama increased by 5.48%, and the change in Lake Zhamuco was not significant. The 2000s was a period of rapid expansion of both the closed lakes (endorheic lakes) and open lakes (exorheic lakes) in the study area. However, the endorheic lakes maintained the increase in lake area after the period of rapid expansion, while the exorheic lakes decreased after significant expansion. During 1988–2017, the annual mean temperature significantly increased at a rate of 0.04 °C/a, while the annual precipitation slightly increased at a rate of 2.23 mm/a. Furthermore, the annual precipitation significantly increased at a rate of 14.28 mm/a during 1995–2008. The results of this study demonstrate that the change in precipitation was responsible for the observed changes in the lake areas of the two exorheic lakes within the study area, while the changes in the lake areas of the two endorheic lakes were more sensitive to the annual mean temperature between 1988 and 2017. Given the importance of lakes to the TP, these are not trivial issues, and we now need accelerated research based on long-term and continuous remote sensing data.

scholarly journals Impact of Land Use Change on the Local Climate over the Tibetan Plateau

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiming Jin ◽  
Shihua Lu ◽  
Suosuo Li ◽  
Norman L. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Lower Surface ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Significant Downward Trend ◽  
Three Rivers

Observational data show that the remotely sensed leaf area index (LAI) has a significant downward trend over the east Tibetan Plateau (TP), while a warming trend is found in the same area. Further analysis indicates that this warming trend mainly results from the nighttime warming. The Single-Column Atmosphere Model (SCAM) version 3.1 developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research is used to investigate the role of land use change in the TP local climate system and isolate the contribution of land use change to the warming. Two sets of SCAM simulations were performed at the Xinghai station that is located near the center of the TP Sanjiang (three rivers) Nature Reserve where the downward LAI trend is largest. These simulations were forced with the high and low LAIs. The modeling results indicate that, when the LAI changes from high to low, the daytime temperature has a slight decrease, while the nighttime temperature increases significantly, which is consistent with the observations. The modeling results further show that the lower surface roughness length plays a significant role in affecting the nighttime temperature increase.

scholarly journals Atmospheric processes of persistent organic pollutants over a remote lake of the central Tibetan Plateau: Implications for regional cycling

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiao Ren ◽  
Xiaoping Wang ◽  
Chuanfei Wang ◽  
Ping Gong ◽  
Tandong Yao
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Organic Pollutants ◽  
Persistent Organic Pollutants ◽  
Secondary Source ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Nam Co ◽  
Surface Exchange ◽  
Atmospheric Processes ◽  
Water Gas

Abstract. Atmospheric processes (air-surface exchange, and atmospheric deposition and degradation) are crucial for understanding the global cycling and fate of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). However, such assessment over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) remains uncertain. More than 50 % of the Chinese lakes are located on the TP, which exerts a remarkable influence on the regional water, energy, and chemical cycling. In this study, air and water samples were simultaneously collected in Nam Co, a large lake on the TP, to test whether the lake is a "secondary source" or "sink" of POPs. Lower concentrations of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were observed in the atmosphere and lake water of Nam Co, while the levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were relatively higher. Results of fugacity ratios and chiral signatures both suggest that the lake acted as the net sink of atmospheric hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), following their long-range transport driven by the Indian Monsoon. Different behaviors were observed in the PAHs, which primarily originated from local biomass burning. Acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, and fluorene showed volatilization from the lake to the atmosphere; while other PAHs were deposited into the lake due to the integrated deposition process (wet/dry and air-water gas deposition) and limited atmospheric degradation. As the dominant PAH compound, phenanthrene exhibited a seasonal reversal of air-water gas exchange, which was likely related to the melting of the lake ice in May. The annual input of HCHs from air to the entire lake area (2015 km2) was estimated as 1.9 kg year−1, while those estimated for PAHs can potentially reach up to 550 kg year−1. This study highlights the significance of PAH deposition on the regional carbon cycling in the oligotrophic lakes of the TP.

scholarly journals Growth of a high-elevation large inland lake, associated with climate change and permafrost degradation in Tibet

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Liu ◽  
S. Kang ◽  
T. Gong ◽  
A. Lu
Keyword(s):  
High Elevation ◽  
Annual Runoff ◽  
Annual Precipitation ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Permafrost Degradation ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Pan Evaporation ◽  
Precipitation Increase ◽  
Nam Co Lake

Abstract. This study analyzed satellite images and long term climate variables from a high-elevation meteorological station (4730 m) and streamflow records to examine hydrological response of Nam Co Lake (4718 m), the largest lake on the Tibetan Plateau, over the last 50 years. The results show the lake area extended by 51.8 km2 (2.7% of the total area) when compared with the area in 1976. This change is associated with an annual precipitation increase of 65 mm (18.6%), annual and winter mean temperature increases of 0.9 °C and 2.1 °C respectively, an annual runoff increase of 20% and an annual pan evaporation decrease of about 2%, during the past 20 years. The year of the change point in annual precipitation, air temperature, annual pan evaporation and runoff occurred in 1971, 1983, 1997 and 1997, respectively. The timing of the lake growth corresponds with the abrupt increase in annual precipitation and runoff since the mid-1990s.

scholarly journals Snow distribution over the Namco lake area of the Tibetan Plateau

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2023-2030 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Li ◽  
Y. Ma ◽  
Z. Hu ◽  
H. Ishikawa ◽  
Y. Oku
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
State Variable ◽  
Nested Grids ◽  
Snow Distribution ◽  
Surface Skin Temperature ◽  
Modified Surface ◽  
Meteorological Observations

Abstract. The mesoscale snow distribution over the Namco lake area of the Tibetan Plateau on October 2005 has been investigated in this paper. The base and revised experiments were conducted using the Weather Research Model (WRF) with three nested grids that included a 1 km finest grid centered on the Namco station. Our simulation ran from 6 October through to 10 October 2005, which was concurrent with long term meteorological observations. Evaluation against boundary layer meteorological tower measurements and flux observations showed that the model captured the observed 2 m temperature and 10 m winds reasonably well in the revised experiment. The results suggest that output snow depth maximum amounts from two simulated experiments were centered downwind of the Namco lakeshore. Modified surface state variable, for example, surface skin temperature on the lake help to increase simulated credibility.

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