Long-term trends of precipitable water and precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau derived from satellite and surface measurements

2013 ◽  
Vol 122 ◽  
pp. 64-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dingling Zhang ◽  
Jianping Huang ◽  
Xiaodan Guan ◽  
Bin Chen ◽  
Lei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Precipitable Water ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Surface Measurements ◽  
Long Term Trends

scholarly journals Detecting Long-Term Trends in Precipitable Water over the Tibetan Plateau by Synthesis of Station and MODIS Observations*

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 1707-1722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ning Lu ◽  
Kevin E. Trenberth ◽  
Jun Qin ◽  
Kun Yang ◽  
Ling Yao
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Bayesian Estimation ◽  
Precipitable Water ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Estimation Model ◽  
Spatial Coverage ◽  
Moderate Resolution ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

Abstract Long-term trends in precipitable water (PW) are an important component of climate change assessments for the Tibetan Plateau (TP). PW products from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are able to provide good spatial coverage of PW over the TP but limited in time coverage, while the meteorological stations in the TP can estimate long-term PW but unevenly distributed. To detect the decadal trend in PW over the TP, Bayesian inference theory is used to construct long-term and spatially continuous PW data for the TP based on the station and MODIS observations. The prior information on the monthly-mean PW from MODIS and the 63 stations over the TP for 2000–06 is used to get the posterior probability knowledge that is utilized to build a Bayesian estimation model. This model is then operated to estimate continuous monthly-mean PW for 1970–2011 and its performance is evaluated using the monthly MODIS PW anomalies (2007–11) and annual GPS PW anomalies (1995–2011), with RMSEs below 0.65 mm, to demonstrate that the model estimation can reproduce the PW variability over the TP in both space and time. Annual PW series show a significant increasing trend of 0.19 mm decade−1 for the TP during the 42 years. The most significant PW increase of 0.47 mm decade−1 occurs for 1986–99 and an insignificant decrease occurs for 2000–11. From the comparison of the PW data from JRA-55, ERA-40, ERA-Interim, MERRA, NCEP-2, and ISCCP, it is found that none of them are able to show the actual long-term trends and variability in PW for the TP as the Bayesian estimation.

scholarly journals Atmospheric Thermal and Dynamic Vertical Structures of Summer Hourly Precipitation in Jiulong of the Tibetan Plateau

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 505
Author(s):  
Yonglan Tang ◽  
Guirong Xu ◽  
Rong Wan ◽  
Xiaofang Wang ◽  
Junchao Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Precipitation Amount ◽  
Summer Precipitation ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Hourly Precipitation ◽  
Air Convection ◽  
Precipitation Variation ◽  
Long Term Observation

It is an important to study atmospheric thermal and dynamic vertical structures over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and their impact on precipitation by using long-term observation at representative stations. This study exhibits the observational facts of summer precipitation variation on subdiurnal scale and its atmospheric thermal and dynamic vertical structures over the TP with hourly precipitation and intensive soundings in Jiulong during 2013–2020. It is found that precipitation amount and frequency are low in the daytime and high in the nighttime, and hourly precipitation greater than 1 mm mostly occurs at nighttime. Weak precipitation during the daytime may be caused by air advection, and strong precipitation at nighttime may be closely related with air convection. Both humidity and wind speed profiles show obvious fluctuation when precipitation occurs, and the greater the precipitation intensity, the larger the fluctuation. Moreover, the fluctuation of wind speed is small in the morning, large at noon and largest at night, presenting a similar diurnal cycle to that of convective activity over the TP, which is conductive to nighttime precipitation. Additionally, the inverse layer is accompanied by the inverse humidity layer, and wind speed presents multi-peaks distribution in its vertical structure. Both of these are closely related with the underlying surface and topography of Jiulong. More studies on physical mechanism and numerical simulation are necessary for better understanding the atmospheric phenomenon over the TP.

scholarly journals Atmospheric Water Vapor Budget and its Long-term Trend over the Tibetan Plateau

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongru Yan ◽  
Jianping Huang ◽  
Yongli He ◽  
Yuzhi Liu ◽  
Tianhe Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Atmospheric Water Vapor ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Atmospheric Water ◽  
Term Trend ◽  
Long Term Trend ◽  
Water Vapor Budget

scholarly journals Lenghu on the Tibetan Plateau as an astronomical observing site

Nature ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 596 (7872) ◽  
pp. 353-356
Author(s):  
Licai Deng ◽  
Fan Yang ◽  
Xiaodian Chen ◽  
Fei He ◽  
Qili Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Precipitable Water ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Local Surface ◽  
Night Temperature ◽  
Precipitable Water Vapour ◽  
Lower Altitude ◽  
Qinghai Province ◽  
Good Site

AbstractOn Earth’s surface, there are only a handful of high-quality astronomical sites that meet the requirements for very large next-generation facilities. In the context of scientific opportunities in time-domain astronomy, a good site on the Tibetan Plateau will bridge the longitudinal gap between the known best sites1,2 (all in the Western Hemisphere). The Tibetan Plateau is the highest plateau on Earth, with an average elevation of over 4,000 metres, and thus potentially provides very good opportunities for astronomy and particle astrophysics3–5. Here we report the results of three years of monitoring of testing an area at a local summit on Saishiteng Mountain near Lenghu Town in Qinghai Province. The altitudes of the potential locations are between 4,200 and 4,500 metres. An area of over 100,000 square kilometres surrounding Lenghu Town has a lower altitude of below 3,000 metres, with an extremely arid climate and unusually clear local sky (day and night)6. Of the nights at the site, 70 per cent have clear, photometric conditions, with a median seeing of 0.75 arcseconds. The median night temperature variation is only 2.4 degrees Celsius, indicating very stable local surface air. The precipitable water vapour is lower than 2 millimetres for 55 per cent of the night.

scholarly journals Diachronous Tibetan Plateau landscape evolution derived from lava field geomorphology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Allen ◽  
Robert Law
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Landscape Evolution ◽  
Tectonic Geomorphology ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Lava Field ◽  
Northern Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Tectonic Processes ◽  
Stepwise Evolution

<p><strong>Evolution of the Tibetan Plateau is important for understanding continental tectonics because of its exceptional elevation (~5 km above sea level) and crustal thickness (~70 km). Patterns of long-term landscape evolution can constrain tectonic processes, but have been hard to quantify, in contrast to established datasets for strain, exhumation and paleo-elevation. This study analyses the relief of the bases and tops of 17 Cenozoic lava fields on the central and northern Tibetan Plateau. Analyzed fields have typical lateral dimensions of 10s of km, and so have an appropriate scale for interpreting tectonic geomorphology. Fourteen of the fields have not been deformed since eruption. One field is cut by normal faults; two others are gently folded with limb dips <6<sup>o</sup></strong><strong>. </strong><strong>Relief of the bases and tops of the fields is comparable to modern, internally-drained, parts of the plateau, and distinctly lower than externally-drained regions. The lavas preserve a record of underlying low relief bedrock landscapes at the time they were erupted, which have undergone little change since. There is an overlap in each area between younger published low-temperature thermochronology ages and the oldest eruption in each area, here interpreted as the transition </strong><strong>between the end of significant (>3 km) exhumation and plateau landscape development. </strong><strong>This diachronous process took place between ~32.5<sup>o</sup> - ~36.5<sup>o</sup> N between ~40 and ~10 Ma, advancing northwards at a long-term rate of ~15 km/Myr. Results are consistent with incremental northwards growth of the plateau, rather than a stepwise evolution or synchronous uplift.</strong></p>

scholarly journals Long-term snow disasters during 1982–2012 in the Tibetan Plateau using satellite data

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 466-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hang Yin ◽  
Chunxiang Cao ◽  
Min Xu ◽  
Wei Chen ◽  
Xiliang Ni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Satellite Data ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau

Denisovan DNA in Late Pleistocene sediments from Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 370 (6516) ◽  
pp. 584-587
Author(s):  
Dongju Zhang ◽  
Huan Xia ◽  
Fahu Chen ◽  
Bo Li ◽  
Viviane Slon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mitochondrial Dna ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Amino Acid Substitution ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Karst Cave ◽  
Late Middle Pleistocene

A late Middle Pleistocene mandible from Baishiya Karst Cave (BKC) on the Tibetan Plateau has been inferred to be from a Denisovan, an Asian hominin related to Neanderthals, on the basis of an amino acid substitution in its collagen. Here we describe the stratigraphy, chronology, and mitochondrial DNA extracted from the sediments in BKC. We recover Denisovan mitochondrial DNA from sediments deposited ~100 thousand and ~60 thousand years ago (ka) and possibly as recently as ~45 ka. The long-term occupation of BKC by Denisovans suggests that they may have adapted to life at high altitudes and may have contributed such adaptations to modern humans on the Tibetan Plateau.

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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