Climate Change Research ›› 2024, Vol. 20 ›› Issue (2): 158-169.doi: 10.12006/j.issn.1673-1719.2023.247

• Changes in Climate System • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Research progress on climate change and its impact on water resources over the Tibetan Plateau

BAO Wen1,2, DUAN An-Min3(), YOU Qing-Long4, HU Die5   

  1. 1 Institutes of Science and Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
    2 School of Public Policy and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    3 Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
    4 Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
    5 Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
  • Received:2023-11-10 Revised:2023-12-04 Online:2024-03-30 Published:2024-02-28

Abstract:

This article reviews the studies on the characteristics, causes, and impacts of climate change over Tibetan Plateau (TP) in recent 20 years, particularly in recent 10 years. Since 1960, the overall temperature over the TP has significantly increased and there is a significant altitude dependence. Greenhouse gases, feedback of ice and snow albedo, and of cloud-water vapor-radiation, as well as the local forcing are important factors affecting the altitude dependence of the TP warming. The precipitation on the TP shows an overall increasing trend, and shows stronger regional and seasonal differences than surface air temperature changes. The spatial variation of precipitation is mainly divided into north-south dipole, east-west dipole, central and marginal difference type, and multivariate type. The most significant precipitation increase occurs in summer. Affected by climate change and anthropogenic aerosol emissions, the water resources especially cryosphere water resources over the TP have undergone drastic changes, including accelerated glacier shrinkage, increased glacier runoff, severe lake expansion, leading to climate warming and humidification. The changes in snow cover on the TP have shown significantly interdecadal variations. Finally, further research and policy recommendations are proposed.

Key words: The Tibetan Plateau, Climate change, Water resources, Impact, Research progress

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