Rapid northward shift of the Indian Monsoon on the Tibetan Plateau at the end of the Little Ice Age

2017 ◽  
Vol 122 (17) ◽  
pp. 9262-9279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaolong Zhang ◽  
Baiqing Xu ◽  
Franziska Günther ◽  
Roman Witt ◽  
Mo Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Indian Monsoon ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau

scholarly journals Identification of glaciers with surge characteristics on the Tibetan Plateau

1992 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 168-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang Wenjing
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Climate Variation ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Loss Of Life ◽  
Transportation Corridors ◽  
Southeast Tibet

Investigations of Zelunglung and Midui Glaciers in southeast Tibet, China, indicate that they have some characteristics of surge-type glaciers. There have been two extraordinary movements of Zelunglung Glacier, one in 1950 and one in 1968. A collapse of the terminus area took place in 1984. Midui Glacier experienced extraordinary movements about 55 years ago and also in 1988. During these events, the glacier termini reached moraines formed during neoglaciation and the Little Ice Age. The advances of the two glaciers are not related to climate variation. The glaciers caused serious disasters with loss of life and property, and disruption of transportation corridors.

scholarly journals Identification of glaciers with surge characteristics on the Tibetan Plateau

1992 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 168-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang Wenjing
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Climate Variation ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Loss Of Life ◽  
Transportation Corridors ◽  
Southeast Tibet

Investigations of Zelunglung and Midui Glaciers in southeast Tibet, China, indicate that they have some characteristics of surge-type glaciers. There have been two extraordinary movements of Zelunglung Glacier, one in 1950 and one in 1968. A collapse of the terminus area took place in 1984. Midui Glacier experienced extraordinary movements about 55 years ago and also in 1988. During these events, the glacier termini reached moraines formed during neoglaciation and the Little Ice Age. The advances of the two glaciers are not related to climate variation. The glaciers caused serious disasters with loss of life and property, and disruption of transportation corridors.

scholarly journals Spatial Distribution of the Persistent Organic Pollutants across the Tibetan Plateau and Its Linkage with the Climate Systems: Five Year Air Monitoring Study

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoping Wang ◽  
Jiao Ren ◽  
Ping Gong ◽  
Chuanfei Wang ◽  
Yonggang Xue ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Organic Pollutants ◽  
Persistent Organic Pollutants ◽  
Time Trends ◽  
Indian Monsoon ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Sampling Period ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Transport Pathways ◽  
Air Masses

Abstract. The Tibetan Plateau (TP) has been contaminated by persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including legacy organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) through atmospheric transport. The exact source regions, transport pathways and time trends of POPs to the TP are not well understood. Here XAD-based passive air samplers (PAS) were deployed at 16 Tibetan background sites from 2007 to 2012 to gain further insight into spatial patterns and temporal trends of OCPs and PCBs. The southeastern TP was characterized by dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) -related chemicals delivered by Indian Monsoon air masses. The northern and northwestern TP displayed the greatest absolute concentration and relative abundance of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) in the atmosphere, caused by the westerly-driven European air masses. The interactions between the DDT polluted Indian monsoon air and the clean westerly winds formed a transition zone in central Tibet where both DDT and HCB were the dominant chemicals. Based on 5-year of continuous sampling, our data indicated declining concentrations of HCB and hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) across the Tibetan region. Inter-annual trends of DDT class chemicals, however, showed less variation during this 5-year sampling period, which may be due to the on-going usage of DDT in India. This paper demonstrates the possibility of using POPs fingerprints to investigate the climate interactions and the validity of using PAS to derive inter-annual atmospheric POPs time trends.

scholarly journals Causes of glacier change in the source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers on the Tibetan Plateau

2003 ◽  
Vol 49 (167) ◽  
pp. 539-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Jianping ◽  
Ding Yongjian ◽  
Chen Rensheng ◽  
Liu Shiyin ◽  
Lu Anxin
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Source Regions ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
River Drainages ◽  
Topographical Maps

AbstractGlaciers are an important element of the environment in the source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers on the Tibetan Plateau. Using Geographical Information System techniques, we have studied changes in the location of glacier margins in two areas: the Geladandong area in the headwaters of the Yangtze, and the A’nyêmaqên Shan mountains in the headwaters of the Yellow River. Marginal positions during the Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum, in 1969 in the Geladandong area, in 1966 in the A’nyêmaqên Shan, and in 2000 in both areas, were determined using aerial photographs, satellite images, topographical maps and digital elevation models. Extrapolating the results to the entire source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, we estimate that the total glacierized area decreased about 1.7% between 1969 and 2000 in the Geladandong area and about 17% between 1966 and 2000 in the A’nyêmaqên Shan. Glaciers were stable or advanced slightly between 1969 and 1995 in the Geladandong area, and between 1966 and 1981 in the A’nyêmaqên Shan, but have retreated since the mid-1990s in the former and since the 1980s in the latter. Significant increases in summer air temperature and decreases in annual precipitation are the causes of the present retreat. As a consequence of the retreat, water storage, as ice, in the Yangtze and Yellow river drainages is decreasing by 65–70 × 106 m3 a−1.

Complex Role of the Tibetan Plateau and its Surrounding Topography in the Formation of Asian Climate

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingying Sha ◽  
Zhengguo Shi
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
Indian Monsoon ◽  
Arid Climate ◽  
Monsoon Circulation ◽  
Main Body ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Strengthening Effect ◽  
Maximum Rainfall ◽  
Precipitation Seasonality

<p>The Tibetan Plateau (TP) has undoubtedly played an essential role in the evolution and strengthening of the coupled climate system of the Asian monsoon and inland arid climate since the Cenozoic. However, a growing number of studies have found that regional and relatively smaller scale topography also has significant impact on Asian climate.<br>By using high resolution atmospheric circulation model, we analyzed the effect of the main body of the TP and its surrounding topography on the evolution of Asian climate. The surrounding topography includes the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau (YG) at the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, the Pamir Plateau (Pr) and Tian Shan mountains (TS) at the northern margin and the Mongolian Plateau (MP) further north. The results show that different from the strengthening effect of the main TP, the YG significantly weakens the Indian monsoon. With the uplift of the YG, an anomalous anticyclonic circulation appeared in the lower troposphere over the southwest, resulting in the weakening of monsoon circulation from the Bay of Bengal to the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian sea. The decline in Indian monsoon precipitation caused by the YG accounts for one-third of the total increase in precipitation caused by the entire TP.<br>For the arid interior Asia, the main TP, YG, Pr and TS, as well as the MP all have reduced the annual precipitation in some extent. However, different from the consistent inhibiting effect of the main TP on the precipitation over the arid interior Asia throughout the year, the decreasing effect of the YG and the MP is mainly effective in boreal winter, which is closely related to the mechanical blocking effect. In addition, the Pr and TS play a key role in the temporal and spatial differentiation of precipitation in the arid interior Asia. Before the appearance of the Pr and TS, the precipitation seasonality over the eastern sub-region was characterized with maximum rainfall in spring and winter and minimum rainfall in summer. With the uplift of Pr and TS, the precipitation over the eastern part decreases in winter and significantly increases in summer, which leads to the change of precipitation seasonality to summer dominated.<br>The above results indicate that different part of the extensive-third pole have different influences on the Asian monsoon and inland aridity. It suggests that the Asian monsoon-inland arid climate may have undergone complex evolutionary processes on tectonic scale.</p>

scholarly journals Temperature variations over the past millennium on the Tibetan Plateau revealed by four ice cores

2007 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 362-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tandong Yao ◽  
Keqin Duan ◽  
L.G. Thompson ◽  
Ninglian Wang ◽  
Lide Tian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Northern Tibetan Plateau

AbstractTemperature variation on the Tibetan Plateau over the last 1000 years has been inferred using a composite δ18O record from four ice cores. Data from a new ice core recovered from the Puruogangri ice field in the central Tibetan Plateau are combined with those from three other cores (Dunde, Guliya and Dasuopu) recovered previously. The ice-core δ18O composite record indicates that the temperature change on the whole Tibetan Plateau is similar to that in the Northern Hemisphere on multi-decadal timescales except that there is no decreasing trend from AD 1000 to the late 19th century. The δ18O composite record from the northern Tibetan Plateau, however, indicates a cooling trend from AD 1000 to the late 19th century, which is more consistent with the Northern Hemisphere temperature reconstruction. The δ18O composite record reveals the existence of the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age (LIA) on the Tibetan Plateau. However, on the Tibetan Plateau the LIA is not the coldest period during the last millennium as in other regions in the Northern Hemisphere. The present study indicates that the 20th-century warming on the Tibetan Plateau is abrupt, and is warmer than at any time during the past 1000 years.

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