Assessment of past, present and future environmental changes on the Tibetan Plateau

Many lakes on the Tibetan Plateau exhibit strandplains with a series of beach ridges extending high above the current lake levels. These beach ridges mark former lake highstands and therefore dating their formation allows the reconstruction of lake-level histories and environmental changes. In this study, we establish a lake-level chronology of Tangra Yum Co (fifth largest lake on the Tibetan Plateau) based on luminescence dating of feldspar from 17 beach-ridge samples. The samples were collected from two strandplains southeast and north of the lake and range in elevation from the current shore to 140 m above the present lake. Using a modified post-infrared IRSL protocol at 170°C we successfully minimised the anomalous fading in the feldspar IRSL signal, and obtained reliable dating results. The luminescence ages indicate three different stages of lake-level decline during the Holocene: (1) a phase of rapid decline (~ 50 m) from ~ 6.4 to ~ 4.5 ka, (2) a period of slow decline between ~ 4.5 and ~ 2.0 ka (~ 20 m), and (3) a fast decline by 70 m between ~ 2 ka and today. Our findings suggest a link between a decrease in monsoonal activity and lake-level decline since the early Holocene.

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Microbial Diversity in the Glacial Ecosystem of Antarctic, Arctic, and Tibetan Plateau: Properties and Response to the Environmental Condition

Janapriya Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies ◽

10.3126/jjis.v9i1.35239 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 231-250

Author(s):

Birendra Prasad Sharma ◽

Subash Adhikari ◽

Ganesh Paudel ◽

Namita Paudel Adhikari

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Microbial Diversity ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Relevant Literature ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Polar Regions ◽

Cold Temperatures ◽

Bacterial Phyla

Microorganisms, as successive members of the food web, play a major role in biological processes. They are found in environments ranging from extremely hot to harsh cold temperatures. Thus, the study of bacterial communities in various ecosystems is of great concern around the world. The glacier is one of the parts of the cryosphere, which is the key component and sensitive indicator of climatic and environmental changes. A glacial ecosystem is a habitat for various microorganisms, i.e., autotrophic and heterotrophic. Different physicochemical parameters like temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, the input of nutrient concentration, precipitation, ions concentrations, etc. influence the microbial diversity in the glacial ecosystem for their metabolic processes. Successive studies of bacterial communities in the Himalayan glacial ecosystem are reliable proxies to know the relationships between microbial biodiversity and climate change since the Himalayan glaciers are free from anthropogenic activities. After the study of the relevant literature, it is clear that the researches. have been carried out in the Polar Regions, and the Tibetan plateau mainly focused on the glacial ecosystem. This review concluded that Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria, Firmicutes, Verrucomicrobia, and Actinobacteria were the most dominant bacterial phyla via 16S rRNA clone libraries and Illumina MiSeq. Alter in landscapes, nutrient cycles, exposure of light, shifting on the concentration of different elements, glacier retreats were the major components for survival strength of dominant bacterial phyla. However, limited studies on the glacial ecosystem of the Himalayas have been published. Thus, the study of bacterial abundance, diversity, and community in the Himalayas will help plug this research gap.

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Late Miocene–Quaternary rapid stepwise uplift of the NE Tibetan Plateau and its effects on climatic and environmental changes

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/j.yqres.2014.01.002 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 81 (3) ◽

pp. 400-423 ◽

Cited By ~ 154

Author(s):

Jijun Li ◽

Xiaomin Fang ◽

Chunhui Song ◽

Baotian Pan ◽

Yuzhen Ma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Yellow River ◽

Source Area ◽

Yellow River Basin ◽

Tectonic Geomorphology ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Asian Winter Monsoon ◽

New Findings ◽

Ne Tibetan Plateau

AbstractThe way in which the NE Tibetan Plateau uplifted and its impact on climatic change are crucial to understanding the evolution of the Tibetan Plateau and the development of the present geomorphology and climate of Central and East Asia. This paper is not a comprehensive review of current thinking but instead synthesises our past decades of work together with a number of new findings. The dating of Late Cenozoic basin sediments and the tectonic geomorphology of the NE Tibetan Plateau demonstrates that the rapid persistent rise of this plateau began ~8 ± 1 Ma followed by stepwise accelerated rise at ~3.6 Ma, 2.6 Ma, 1.8–1.7 Ma, 1.2–0.6 Ma and 0.15 Ma. The Yellow River basin developed at ~1.7 Ma and evolved to its present pattern through stepwise backward-expansion toward its source area in response to the stepwise uplift of the plateau. High-resolution multi-climatic proxy records from the basins and terrace sediments indicate a persistent stepwise accelerated enhancement of the East Asian winter monsoon and drying of the Asian interior coupled with the episodic tectonic uplift since ~8 Ma and later also with the global cooling since ~3.2 Ma, suggesting a major role for tectonic forcing of the cooling.

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Monitoring 40-Year Lake Area Changes of the Qaidam Basin, Tibetan Plateau, Using Landsat Time Series

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs11030343 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 343 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Huiying Li ◽

Dehua Mao ◽

Xiaoyan Li ◽

Zongming Wang ◽

Cuizhen Wang

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Qaidam Basin ◽

Salt Lakes ◽

Anthropogenic Factors ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Lake Area ◽

Landsat Images

Areal changes of high-altitude inland lakes on the Qaidam Basin (QB) of the Tibetan Plateau are reliable indicators of climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. Due to the physical difficulties to access, our knowledge of the spatial patterns and processes of climatic and human impacts on the Basin has been limited. Focusing on lake area changes, this study used long-term Landsat images to map the patterns of lakes and glaciers in 1977, 1990, 2000, and 2015, and to monitor the spatially explicit changes of lakes between 1977 and 2015. Results revealed that the total number of lakes (area > 0.5 km2) increased by 18, while their total area expanded by 29.8%, from 1761.5 ± 88.1 km2 to 2285.9 ± 91.4 km2. Meanwhile, glaciers have decreased in area by 259.16 km2 in the past four decades. The structural equation model (SEM) was applied to examine the integrative effects of natural and anthropogenic factors on lake area. Precipitation change exhibited the most significant influence on lake area in the QB from 1977 to 2000, while human activities also played an important role in the expansion of lakes in the QB in the period 2000–2015. In particular, extensive exploitation of salt lakes as mining resources resulted in severe changes in lake area and landscape. The continuously expanding salt lakes inundated the road infrastructure nearby, posing great threats to road safety. This study shed new light on the impacts of recent environmental changes and human interventions on lakes in the Qaidam Basin, which could assist policy-making for protecting the lakes and for strengthening the ecological improvement of this vast, arid basin.

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Uplift and Environmental Changes of the Tibetan Plateau

Mountain Geoecology and Sustainable Development of the Tibetan Plateau - GeoJournal Library ◽

10.1007/978-94-010-0965-2_2 ◽

2000 ◽

pp. 19-45

Author(s):

Zhang Qingsong

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

The Tibetan Plateau

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National Tibetan Plateau Data Center

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1710 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Xin Li ◽

Xiaoduo Pan ◽

Xuejun Guo ◽

Xiaolei Niu ◽

Xiaojuan Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Big Data ◽

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Data Sharing ◽

Data Center ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Large Data ◽

Scientific Data ◽

Data Repository ◽

Observation System ◽

The Tibetan Plateau

National Tibetan Plateau Data Center (TPDC) is one of the first 20 national data centers authorized&#160;by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China&#160;in 2019 . It is the only data center in China with the most complete scientific data for the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions. There are more than 1700 datasets covering&#160;many disciplines such as geography, atmospheric science, cryospheric science, hydrology, ecology, geology, geophysics, natural resource science, social economy, and other fields. All data are sorted and integrated in a strict way accordance with the data standards specified by TPDC and the relevant data acquisition specifications.&#160;The mission of the data center is to establish a big data center for Third-Pole Earth System Sciences to integrate ThirdPole data resources, particularly those obtained through the implementation of the Third-Pole "Super Monitoring" plan; to develop cutting edge observation technology for extreme environments; and to build a comprehensive and intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) observation system for the Pan-Third Pole region. These developments will facilitate the modeling of environmental changes in the Pan-Third Pole with improved accuracy and performance, as well as support decision-making for sustainable development of the Pan-Third Pole region.TPDC complies with the &#8220;findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR)&#8221; data sharing principles, in which, the scientific data and metadata can be 'findable' by anyone for exploring and using, can be 'accessible' for being examined, can be 'interoperable' for being analyzed and integrated with comparable data through the use of common vocabulary and formats, can be 'reusable' for public as a result of robust metadata, provenance information and clear usage license. Under the guidance of FAIR data sharing principle, Pan-Third big data system provides online sharing manner for data users, supplemented by offline sharing manner, with bilingual data sharing in Chinese and English.TPDC has joined WMO (World Meteorological Organization) to promote the project of Integrated Global&#160;Cryosphere Information System (IGCryoIS), aiming to collect and share multi-source data in global regions&#160;where data is difficult to obtain. Recently TPDC and NSIDC (National Snow and Ice Data Center) officially&#160;signed a memorandum of collaboration on data sharing and research to start comprehensive cooperation.&#160;TPDC is strengthening cooperation with the international data organizations (e.g. CODATA, WDS) and&#160;providing data support for the international science programs of the Tibetan Plateau (e.g. TPE, ANSO). TPDC&#160;is applying to become a recommended data repository for the international mainstream journals so as to&#160;encourage&#160;data authors to share their well-documented, useful and preserved data by giving them credit and&#160;recognition.&#160;In a word, TPDC&#160;stores, integrates, analyses, excavates and publishes scientific data such as resources, environment, ecology and atmosphere in Pan-third polar region, gathers Pan-third polar core data resources, forms Pan-third polar key scientific data products, and gradually develops online large data analysis, model application and other functions. Furthermore, a cloud service platform will be built&#160;for the extensive integration of data, methods, models and services in Pan-Third Pole Science and to promote the application of large data methods in Pan-Third Pole Science Research.

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A lake data set for the Tibetan Plateau from the 1960s, 2005, and 2014

Scientific Data ◽

10.1038/sdata.2016.39 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 53

Author(s):

Wei Wan ◽

Di Long ◽

Yang Hong ◽

Yingzhao Ma ◽

Yuan Yuan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Yellow River ◽

Qaidam Basin ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Design Data ◽

Data Set ◽

River Ganges ◽

The 1960S

Abstract Long-term datasets of number and size of lakes over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are among the most critical components for better understanding the interactions among the cryosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere at regional and global scales. Due to the harsh environment and the scarcity of data over the TP, data accumulation and sharing become more valuable for scientists worldwide to make new discoveries in this region. This paper, for the first time, presents a comprehensive and freely available data set of lakes’ status (name, location, shape, area, perimeter, etc.) over the TP region dating back to the 1960s, including three time series, i.e., the 1960s, 2005, and 2014, derived from ground survey (the 1960s) or high-spatial-resolution satellite images from the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS) (2005) and China’s newly launched GaoFen-1 (GF-1, which means high-resolution images in Chinese) satellite (2014). The data set could provide scientists with useful information for revealing environmental changes and mechanisms over the TP region. Design Type(s) time series design • observation design • data integration objective Measurement Type(s) lake topography Technology Type(s) remote sensing Factor Type(s) Sample Characteristic(s) Tibetan Plateau • Qaidam Basin • Amu Darya • Brahmaputra River • River Ganges • Hexi District • Indus River • Mekong River • Salween River • Tarim Basin • Yangtze River • Yellow River • endorheic lake • exorheic lake Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data (ISA-Tab format)

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Plant phenological responses to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau: research status and challenges

National Science Review ◽

10.1093/nsr/nwv058 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 454-467 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

Miaogen Shen ◽

Shilong Piao ◽

Tsechoe Dorji ◽

Qiang Liu ◽

Nan Cong ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Remote Sensing ◽

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Ecosystem Structure ◽

Positive Role ◽

Ecosystem Responses ◽

Research Issues

Abstract Phenology studies the cycle of events in nature that are initiated and driven by an annually recurring environment. Plant phenology is expected to be one of the most sensitive and easily observable natural indicators of climate change. On the Tibetan Plateau (TP), an accelerated warming since the mid-1980s has resulted in significant environmental changes. These new conditions are accompanied by phenological changes that are characterized by considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity. Satellite remote sensing observed widespread advance in the start of the plant growing season across the plateau during the 1980s and 1990s but substantial delay over 2000–2011 in the southwest although it continued to advance in the northeast regions of the TP. Both observational studies and controlled experiments have revealed, to some extent, the positive role of higher preseason temperature and even more precipitation in advancing the leaf onset and first flowering date of the TP. However, a number of rarely visited research issues that are essential for understanding the role of phenology in ecosystem responses and feedback processes to climate change remain to be solved. Our review recommends that addressing the following questions should be a high priority. How did other phenological events change, such as flowering and fruiting phenology? What are the influences from environmental changes other than temperature and precipitation, including human activities such as grazing? What are the genetic and physiological bases of plants phenological responses? How does phenological change influence ecosystem structure and function at different scales and feedback to the climate system? Investigating these research questions requires, first of all, new data of the associated environmental variables, and consistent and reliable phenological observation using different methodologies (i.e. in situ observations and remote sensing).

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