scholarly journals Seasonal variation of lightning on the Tibetan Plateau: A Spring anomaly?

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralf Toumi
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Variation ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau

scholarly journals Origin and radiative forcing of black carbon transported to the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 21615-21651 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kopacz ◽  
D. L. Mauzerall ◽  
J. Wang ◽  
E. M. Leibensperger ◽  
D. K. Henze ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Variation ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Central China ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Adjoint Sensitivity ◽  
Snow Albedo ◽  
Northern Tibetan Plateau

Abstract. The remote and high elevation regions of central Asia are influenced by black carbon (BC) emissions from a variety of locations. BC deposition contributes to melting of glaciers and questions exist, of both scientific and policy interest, as to the origin of the BC reaching the glaciers. We use the adjoint of the GEOS-Chem model to identify the location from which BC arriving at a variety of locations in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau originates. We then calculate its direct and snow-albedo radiative forcing. We analyze the seasonal variation in the origin of BC using an adjoint sensitivity analysis, which provides a detailed map of the location of emissions that directly contribute to black carbon concentrations at receptor locations. We find that emissions from northern India and central China contribute the majority of BC to the Himalayas, although the precise location varies with season. The Tibetan Plateau receives most BC from western and central China, as well as from India, Nepal, the Middle East, Pakistan and other countries. The magnitude of contribution from each region varies with season and receptor location. We find that sources as varied as African biomass burning and Middle Eastern fossil fuel combustion can significantly contribute to the BC reaching the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau. We compute radiative forcing in the snow-covered regions and estimate the forcing due to the BC induced snow-albedo effect at about 5–15 W m−2 within the region, an order of magnitude larger than radiative forcing due to the direct effect, and with significant seasonal variation in the northern Tibetan Plateau. Radiative forcing from reduced snow albedo accelerates glacier melting. Our analysis can help inform mitigation efforts to slow the rate of glacial melt by identifying regions that make the largest contributions to BC deposition in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau.

scholarly journals Origin and radiative forcing of black carbon transported to the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 2837-2852 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kopacz ◽  
D. L. Mauzerall ◽  
J. Wang ◽  
E. M. Leibensperger ◽  
D. K. Henze ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Variation ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Central China ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Adjoint Sensitivity ◽  
Snow Albedo ◽  
Northern Tibetan Plateau

Abstract. The remote and high elevation regions of central Asia are influenced by black carbon (BC) emissions from a variety of locations. BC deposition contributes to melting of glaciers and questions exist, of both scientific and policy interest, as to the origin of the BC reaching the glaciers. We use the adjoint of the GEOS-Chem model to identify the location from which BC arriving at a variety of locations in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau originates. We then calculate its direct and snow-albedo radiative forcing. We analyze the seasonal variation in the origin of BC using an adjoint sensitivity analysis, which provides a detailed map of the location of emissions that directly contribute to black carbon concentrations at receptor locations. We find that emissions from northern India and central China contribute the majority of BC to the Himalayas, although the precise location varies with season. The Tibetan Plateau receives most BC from western and central China, as well as from India, Nepal, the Middle East, Pakistan and other countries. The magnitude of contribution from each region varies with season and receptor location. We find that sources as varied as African biomass burning and Middle Eastern fossil fuel combustion can significantly contribute to the BC reaching the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau. We compute radiative forcing in the snow-covered regions and find the forcing due to the BC induced snow-albedo effect to vary from 5–15 W m−2 within the region, an order of magnitude larger than radiative forcing due to the direct effect, and with significant seasonal variation in the northern Tibetan Plateau. Radiative forcing from reduced snow albedo likely accelerates glacier melting. Our analysis may help inform mitigation efforts to slow the rate of glacial melt by identifying regions that make the largest contributions to BC deposition in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau.

scholarly journals Measurement Report: Determination of aerosol vertical features on different time-scales over East Asia based on CATS aerosol products

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yueming Cheng ◽  
Tie Dai ◽  
Jiming Li ◽  
Guangyu Shi
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Variation ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
East Asia ◽  
North China ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Diurnal Variations ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Anthropogenic Aerosols ◽  
Near Surface

Abstract. The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) lidar, on board the International Space Station (ISS), provides a new opportunity for studying aerosol vertical distributions, especially the diurnal variations from space observations. In this study, we investigate the seasonal variations and diurnal cycles of the vertical aerosol extinction coefficients (AECs) over East Asia by taking advantage of 32 months of the continuous and uniform aerosol measurements from the CATS lidar. Over the Tibetan Plateau, a belt of AECs approximately 6 km between 30° N and 38° N persistently exists in all seasons with an obviously seasonal variation. In summer, the aerosols at 6 km are identified as a mixture of both anthropogenic aerosols transported from India and coarse dust particles from Asian dust sources. In addition, the high AECs up to 8 km in summer over the Tibetan Plateau are caused by smoke aerosols from thermal dynamic processes. In fall and winter, the north slope of the plateau is continuously influenced by both dust aerosols and polluted aerosols transported upslope from the cities located in northwestern Asia at lower elevations. The diurnal variation of AECs in North China is mainly related to the diurnal variations of the transported dust and local polluted aerosols. Below 2 km, the AEC profiles in North China at 06:00 local Time (LT) and 12:00 LT are significantly higher than those at 00:00 LT and 18:00 LT, reaching the maximum at midday. The aerosol vertical profiles over the Tarim desert region in summer have obvious diurnal variations with the AECs at 12:00 LT and 18:00 LT being significantly higher than those at 00:00 LT and 06:00 LT, which are induced by the strongly diurnal variations in near-surface wind speeds. In addition, the peak of the AEC profiles has a significant seasonal variation, which is mainly determined by the boundary layer height.

Seasonal variation in food availability influences the breeding strategy of White-collared Blackbirds Turdus albocinctus on the Tibetan Plateau

Ibis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 159 (4) ◽  
pp. 873-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Qing Fan ◽  
Guo-Liang Chen ◽  
Xin-Wei Da ◽  
Juan-Juan Luo ◽  
Li-Li Xian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Variation ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Breeding Strategy ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau

scholarly journals Analysis on Precipitable Water Vapor over the Tibetan Plateau Using FengYun-3A Medium Resolution Spectral Imager Products

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaoqi Gong ◽  
Daniel F. T. Hagan ◽  
Cunjie Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Variation ◽  
Water Vapor ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Mean Absolute Error ◽  
Precipitable Water ◽  
Absolute Error ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Medium Resolution ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Spectral Imager

The Tibetan Plateau is the largest and highest plateau in the world, and its complex terrain affects the distribution of precipitable water vapor (PWV) in the atmosphere, which plays an important role in the weather and climate of East Asia. In this paper, the characteristics of PWV over the Tibetan Plateau are studied using the FengYun-3A Medium Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI) water vapor products, which are retrieved from the MERSI raw images of Chinese second-generation polar orbit meteorological satellite. Firstly, the accuracy of the MERSI 5-minute water vapor product is validated using three referenced water vapor data from TERRA/MODIS, ground-based GPS, and AERONET sun photometer over the Tibetan Plateau. Then, the spatial distribution and seasonal variation of PWV over the plateau are analyzed, and the effects of topographic factors on PWV are discussed. The results indicate that the MERSI 5-minute water vapor product has a good accuracy over the Tibetan Plateau, which the mean absolute error of MERSI water vapor product is in the range of 28.91%-37.54%, the mean absolute error range between 1.87 and 2.76 millimeter (mm), and the mean bias is between -1.14 and 0.64 mm comparing three referenced data. The PWV content appears as a typical spatial pattern over the Tibetan Plateau where there is a decrease from east to west of the Tibetan Plateau with increasing elevation, with the highest values over the south of Tibet. A second pattern also appears over the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, where the PWV content in the Qaidam Basin and the south of Tarim Basin are also considerably high. The seasonal variation of PWV content over the Tibetan Plateau presents to be highest in summer, followed by autumn and spring, and lowest in winter. The PWV content changes periodically during the year, which fits with a quadratic polynomial over monthly scales. The topographical factors of the Tibetan Plateau were found to affect the water vapor, where the altitude and latitude are negatively correlated with water vapor, while the slope and longitude show a positive correlation with water vapor; however, the aspect does not appear to have any significant influence on water vapor.

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