scholarly journals MODIS-derived interannual variability of the equilibrium-line altitude across the Tibetan Plateau

2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (71) ◽  
pp. 140-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marinka Spiess ◽  
Christoph Schneider ◽  
Fabien Maussion
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Equilibrium Line ◽  
Climate Indices ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Equilibrium Line Altitude ◽  
Winter Temperatures ◽  
Moderate Resolution ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ◽  
Positive Correlations

Abstract.Using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Level 1 radiance Swath Data (MOD02QKM) with a spatial resolution of 250 m, we derive snowlines during July–September 2001–12 for several mountain ranges distributed across the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Radiance bands 1 and 2 are projected to the study area and processed automatically. The discrimination between snow and ice is done using a k-mean cluster analysis and the snowlines are delineated based on a fixed percentile of the snow-cover altitude. The highest transient snowline altitude is then taken as a proxy for the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA). In the absence of measured glaciological, meteorological or hydrological data, our ELA time series enable better understanding of atmosphere-cryosphere couplings on the TP. Interannual ELA variability is linked to local and remote climate indices using a correlation analysis. Southerly flow and higher temperatures are linked with a higher ELA in most regions. Eastern and Trans-Himalayan sites show positive correlations between winter temperatures and ELA. As winter temperatures are substantially below zero, this suggests an enhancement of winter sublimation as opposed to a reduction in accumulation. It appears that large-scale atmospheric forcing has varying and sometimes opposite influences on the annual ELA in different regions on the TP.

scholarly journals Investigation of the ice surface albedo in the Tibetan Plateau lakes based on the field observation and MODIS products

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (245) ◽  
pp. 506-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
ZHAOGUO LI ◽  
YINHUAN AO ◽  
SHIHUA LYU ◽  
JIAHE LANG ◽  
LIJUAN WEN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Lake Ice ◽  
Ice Surface ◽  
Moderate Resolution ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ◽  
Ice Surface Temperature ◽  
Relationship Of

ABSTRACTThe Tibetan Plateau (TP) lakes are sensitive to climate change due to ice-albedo feedback, but almost no study has paid attention to the ice albedo of TP lakes and its potential impacts. Here we present a recent field experiment for observing the lake ice albedo in the TP, and evaluate the applicability of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products as well as ice-albedo parameterizations. Most of the observed lake ice albedos on TP are <0.12, and the clear blue ice albedo is only 0.075, much lower than reported in the previous studies. Even that of ice covered with snow patches is only 0.212. MOD10A1 albedo product has the best agreement with observations, followed by those of MYD10A1. MCD43A3 product is consistently higher than the observations. Due to an error of snow flag and inconsistent time windows in MCD43A2 and MCD43A3, at certain times, the albedo of the ice without snow is even higher than that covered with snow. When the solar zenith angle is not considered, there is no significant correlation between the albedo and the ice surface temperature. None of the existing ice-albedo parameterizations can reproduce well the observed relationship of the albedo and surface temperature.

scholarly journals Evaluation of cloud effects on air temperature estimation using MODIS LST based on ground measurements over the Tibetan Plateau

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongbo Zhang ◽  
Fan Zhang ◽  
Guoqing Zhang ◽  
Xiaobo He ◽  
Lide Tian
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Estimation Accuracy ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Cloud Detection ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Moderate Resolution ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

Abstract. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land surface temperature (LST) data have played a significant role in estimating the air temperature (Tair) due to the sparseness of ground measurements, especially for remote mountainous areas. Generally, two types of air temperatures are studied including daily maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin) air temperatures. MODIS daytime and nighttime LST are often used as proxies for estimating Tmax and Tmin, respectively. The Tibetan Plateau (TP) has a high daily cloud cover fraction (> 45 %). The presence of clouds can affect the relationship between Tair and LST and can further affect the estimation accuracies. This study comprehensively analyzes the effects of clouds on Tair estimation based on MODIS LST using detailed half-hourly ground measurements and daily meteorological station observations collected from over the TP. Comparisons made between in-situ cloudiness observations and MODIS claimed clear-sky records show that erroneous rates of MODIS nighttime cloud detection are obviously higher than those achieved in daytime. Our validation of the MODIS LST values under different cloudiness constraining conditions shows that the accuracy of MODIS nighttime LST is severely affected by undetected clouds. Large errors introduced by undetected clouds are found to significantly affect the Tmin estimations based on nighttime LST through cloud effect tests. However, clouds are mainly found to affect Tmax estimation by affecting the essential relationship between Tmax and daytime LST. The obviously larger errors of Tmax estimation than those of Tmin could be attributed to larger MODIS daytime LST errors resulting from higher degrees of daytime LST heterogeneity within MODIS pixel than those of nighttime LST. Constraining all four MODIS observations per day to non-cloudy observations can efficiently screen samples to build a strong fit of Tmin estimation using MODIS nighttime LST. The present study reveals the effects of clouds on Tair estimation through MODIS LST and will thus help improve the estimation accuracy levels while alleviating the problems associated with severe data sparseness over the TP.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Cloud Mask and Cloud Top Height from Fengyun-4A with MODIS Cloud Retrievals over the Tibetan Plateau

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1418
Author(s):  
Wenjing Xu ◽  
Daren Lyu
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Cloud Detection ◽  
Cloud Properties ◽  
Moderate Resolution ◽  
Resolution Imaging ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Cloud Mask

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) has profound thermal and dynamic influences on the atmospheric circulation, energy, and water cycles of the climate system, which make the clouds over the TP the forefront of atmospheric and climate science. However, the highest altitude and most complex terrain of the TP make the retrieval of cloud properties challenging. In order to understand the performance and limitations of cloud retrievals over the TP derived from the state-of-the-art Advanced Geosynchronous Radiation Imager (AGRI) onboard the new generation of Chinese Geostationary (GEO) meteorological satellites Fengyun-4 (FY-4), a three-month comparison was conducted between FY-4A/AGRI and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for both cloud detection and cloud top height (CTH) pixel-level retrievals. For cloud detection, the AGRI and MODIS cloud mask retrievals showed a fractional agreement of 0.93 for cloudy conditions and 0.73 for clear scenes. AGRI tended to miss lower CTH clouds due to the lack of thermal contrast between the clouds and the surface of the TP. For cloud top height retrievals, the comparison showed that on average, AGRI underestimated the CTH relative to MODIS by 1.366 ± 2.235 km, and their differences presented a trend of increasing with height.

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 Evaluation of cloud effects on air temperature estimation using MODIS LST based on ground measurements over the Tibetan Plateau

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (21) ◽  
pp. 13681-13696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongbo Zhang ◽  
Fan Zhang ◽  
Guoqing Zhang ◽  
Xiaobo He ◽  
Lide Tian
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Estimation Accuracy ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Cloud Detection ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Moderate Resolution ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

Abstract. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) daytime and nighttime land surface temperature (LST) data are often used as proxies for estimating daily maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin) air temperatures, especially for remote mountainous areas due to the sparseness of ground measurements. However, the Tibetan Plateau (TP) has a high daily cloud cover fraction (> 45 %), which may affect the air temperature (Tair) estimation accuracy. This study comprehensively analyzes the effects of clouds on Tair estimation based on MODIS LST using detailed half-hourly ground measurements and daily meteorological station observations collected from the TP. It is shown that erroneous rates of MODIS nighttime cloud detection are obviously higher than those achieved in daytime. Large errors in MODIS nighttime LST data were found to be introduced by undetected clouds and thus reduce the Tmin estimation accuracy. However, for Tmax estimation, clouds are mainly found to reduce the estimation accuracy by affecting the essential relationship between Tmax and daytime LST. The errors of Tmax estimation are obviously larger than those of Tmin and could be attributed to larger MODIS daytime LST errors that result from higher degrees of LST heterogeneity within MODIS pixel compared to those of nighttime LST. Constraining MODIS observations to non-cloudy observations can efficiently screen data samples for accurate Tmin estimation using MODIS nighttime LST. As a result, the present study reveals the effects of clouds on Tmax and Tmin estimation through MODIS daytime and nighttime LST, respectively, so as to help improve the Tair estimation accuracy and alleviate the severe air temperature data sparseness issues over the TP.

scholarly journals Performance of GLASS and MODIS Satellite Albedo Products in Diagnosing Albedo Variations during Different Time Scales and Special Weather Conditions in the Tibetan Plateau

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 2456
Author(s):  
Yingying An ◽  
Xianhong Meng ◽  
Lin Zhao ◽  
Zhaoguo Li ◽  
Shaoying Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Surface Albedo ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Glass Product ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Actual Surface ◽  
Multiple Observations ◽  
Moderate Resolution ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

Surface albedo is a crucial parameter in accurately and quantitatively estimating energy and water budget on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and is also one of the largest radiative uncertainties in land surface modelling attempts. Based on an 8-year ground-based observation of the surface albedo over typical alpine meadows at Maqu and Maduo sites in the eastern TP, the performance of surface albedo products of Global LAnd Surface Satellite (GLASS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in describing albedo variations at daily, 8-day, seasonal timescales, and during different special weather conditions were analyzed. Compared with the ground-based observation in Maqu, the 8-day albedo products from GLASS and MCD43B3 present maximum negative biases of −0.030 and −0.027 at Maqu, respectively. The black-sky albedo (BSA) of GLASS product coincides well with the ground-based observation in Maduo, with root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.092 and correlation coefficient (R) of 0.833, whereas that of MCD43B3 had an RMSE of 0.072 and R of 0.752. However, they are underestimated when the albedo is greater than 0.4. At the seasonal timescale, the BSA of GLASS and MCD43B3 underestimated the ground-based observation of Maqu by 0.015 in summer, while their white-sky albedo (WSA) are slightly overestimated and closer to the ground-based observation. In daily timescale, the response of surface albedo to soil moisture is different in semihumid and semiarid areas in summer. For both sites, the blue-sky-albedo of MCD43A3 has better agreement with the ground-based observation than GLASS and MCD43B3, as it improves the temporal resolution and calculates the albedo by weighting multiple observations within 16 days to be closer to the actual surface. However, even MCD43A3 could not capture the slowdown processes of albedo changes resulted by small snowfall processes or the snow aging due to cloud cover and inversion algorithms.

Relative dating of Quaternary moraines, Rongbuk valley, Mount Everest, Tibet: Implications for an ice sheet on the Tibetan Plateau

1991 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas W. Burbank ◽  
Kang Jian Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Equilibrium Line ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Mount Everest ◽  
Relative Dating ◽  
Ca 50 ◽  
Middle And Late Pleistocene

AbstractRelative-dating studies applied to high-altitude moraines (5000–5500 m) in the Rongbuk valley on the northern flank of Mt. Everest reveal strong contrasts in the weathering characteristics of the boulders exposed along moraine crests. These differences serve to define three intervals of major Pleistocene glaciation that, on the basis of the degree of weathering, are interpreted to extend back to at least the penultimate glaciation and probably encompass at least one still older glaciation. Either interpretation indicates that some of these moraines are considerably older than their previously assigned ages. The magnitude of equilibrium-line lowering during Neoglacial and late Pleistocene times is calculated to be ca. 50–100 and 350–450 m, respectively. The data described here are incompatible with the recently proposed model (Kuhle, 1987) for large-scale ice-sheet development on the Tibetan Plateau. The reconstructed equilibrium-line lowering in the Everest region is only 30% of that cited in the ice-sheet model. Moreover, the flow patterns and geometry of the former Rongbuk glaciers are in opposition to those proposed by the model. Based on the data from the Everest region, it appears that valley glaciation, rather than ice-sheet growth, characterized the southern margin of the Tibetan Plateau during the middle and late Pleistocene glaciations.

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