The Tibetan Plateau cryosphere: Observations and model simulations for current status and recent changes

Yang, Meixue; Wang, Xuejia; Pang, Guojin; G, Wan; Liu, Zhaochen

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.12.018

Cited by 179 publications

(143 citation statements)

References 147 publications

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“…It is the source region of the Yellow River, Yangtze River, and Brahmaputra-Indus River [17], and it is widely known as the "third pole" and the "Asian water tower" [18]. With its unique geographical features, it has a considerable impact on the regional hydrological and energy cycles, as well as a significant effect on the Asian monsoon circulation and even the global climate [19][20][21][22].Previous studies have shown that the air temperature of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau has increased by 0.28 • C/10a in the past 50 years [23]. Precipitation has also shown a trend of slight increase [24].…”

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confidence: 99%

Hydro-Meteorological Trends in the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin and Possible Associations with Large-Scale Circulation

Zuo

Ban

2020

Water

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Climate change poses potential challenges to sensitive areas, such as high-elevation regions. The Yarlung Zangbo River (YLZR) basin is located in the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. It contains large amounts of snow and numerous glaciers that are vulnerable to climate change. Based on daily observational data at 17 meteorological stations in and around the YLZR basin during 1957–2015, the variability of precipitation, air temperature, and streamflow were analyzed. The nonparametric Mann–Kendall test, Sen’s slope estimate method, cross wavelet transform (XWT), and wavelet coherence (WTC) were used to identify the annual seasonal trends. the abrupt changes of precipitation and air temperature, and their associations with large-scale circulation. The results showed that the YLZR basin experienced an overall rapid warming and wetting during the study period, with an average warming rate of 0.33 °C/10 a and wetting rate of 4.25 mm/10a, respectively. Abrupt change points in precipitation and air temperature occurred around the 1970s and 1990s, respectively. The abrupt change points of three hydrological stations occurred around the late 1960s and the late 1990s, respectively. The precipitation, annual average temperature, and the streamflow of the three hydrological stations were negatively correlated with the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) and the multivariate El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) index (MEI), reaching a significant level of 0.05.

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confidence: 99%

Hydro-Meteorological Trends in the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin and Possible Associations with Large-Scale Circulation

Zuo

Ban

2020

Water

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“…The climate warming has intensified the glacier‐snow melting and permafrost thawing on the TP in recent decades (Brun et al, 2017; Kang et al, 2010; Yang et al, 2019). The glacier recession (e.g., a net reduction of ~12% in glacier area in the past few decades; Wang et al, 2017), such as the subglacial melting (Delaney et al, 2018), contributed to the increased runoff and sediment fluxes in the summer, although the glacial coverage in the basin is only 2%.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Substantial Increases in the Water and Sediment Fluxes in the Headwater Region of the Tibetan Plateau in Response to Global Warming

Zhou³

et al. 2020

Geophysical Research Letters

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The long‐term effects of increased temperatures on sediment fluxes in cold regions remain poorly investigated. Here, we examined the multidecadal changes in runoff and sediment fluxes in the Tuotuohe River, a headwater river of the Yangtze River on the Tibetan Plateau (TP). The sediment fluxes and runoff increased at rates of 0.03 ± 0.01 Mt/yr (5.9 ± 1.9%/yr) and 0.025 ± 0.007 × km3/yr (3.5 ± 1.0%/yr) from 1985 to 2016, with net increases of 135% and 78% from 1985–1997 to 1998–2016, respectively. The increases are primarily due to warming temperature (+1.44°C) and intensified glacier‐snow‐permafrost melting, with enhanced precipitation (+30%) as a secondary cause. Sediment fluxes are much more susceptible to climate warming than runoff in this undisturbed cold environment. The substantially increased sediment fluxes from the headwater region could threaten the numerous constructed reservoirs and influence the aquatic ecosystems of the TP and its marginal areas.

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“…The depth of seasonal freezing is about 2.5 m [41]. 8.5 m thick, the sliding length was about 397 m, the average width was about 32 m and the deposit. Due to the continuous rainfall, the ground suddenly split, pushed a column of humus about 3 m thick along the riverbed, and formed the landslide and debris flow.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The freeze thaw cycle made shallow deposits creep continuously and the loss of ice changes the fundamental behavior of the slope [5,6]. The events of landslide have significantly accelerated the alpine ecosystem degradation [7], desertification [8], and destabilization of human infrastructure [9,10]. Fatal landslide events are recorded in the Emergency Events Database [11] and the China Statistical Yearbook [12],…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of a Small Landslide in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by InSAR and Absolute Deformation Model

Hao

et al. 2019

Remote Sensing

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Landslides are one of the major geohazards in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and have recently increased in both frequency and size. SAR interferometry (InSAR) has been widely applied in landslide research, but studies on monitoring small-scale landslides are rare. In this study, we investigated the performance of Small Baseline Subsets method (SBAS) in monitoring small-scale landslide and further developed a new deformation model to obtain the absolute deformation time series. The results showed that SBAS could well capture the small-scale landslide characteristics including spatiotemporal abnormal displacement and progressive failure processes. The newly developed absolute deformation model further detected the process of landslide details, such as instances of noticeable creeps induced by rainfall and snowmelt. Finally, a conceptual model of the kinematics-based failure mechanism for small-scale landslide was proposed. This study extended the monitoring capability of InSAR and improved our knowledge on the deformation in the frozen ground regions.

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The Tibetan Plateau cryosphere: Observations and model simulations for current status and recent changes

Cited by 179 publications

References 147 publications

Hydro-Meteorological Trends in the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin and Possible Associations with Large-Scale Circulation

Hydro-Meteorological Trends in the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin and Possible Associations with Large-Scale Circulation

Substantial Increases in the Water and Sediment Fluxes in the Headwater Region of the Tibetan Plateau in Response to Global Warming

Investigation of a Small Landslide in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by InSAR and Absolute Deformation Model

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