Amplitude of climatic changes in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

On the basis of ice core and meteorological data from the Qinghai-Tibetan (Q-T) Plateau, this article focuses on the discussion of the problems related to the sensitivity of temporal and spatial changes of the climate in high-altitude regions, particularly in the Q-T Plateau. The features of abrupt climatic changes of the past 100 ka, 2 000 a and recent years indicate that the amplitude of these changes in the Q-T Plateau was obviously larger than that in low-altitude regions. The scope of temperature change above 6 000 m in the Q-T Plateau between glacial and interglacial stages could reach over 10°C, but only about 4°C in low-elevation regions close to sea level. During the last 2 000 a, the amplitude of temperature changes at Guliya (over 6 000 m a.s.l.) in the Q-T Plateau reached 7°C, in comparison with 2°C in eastern China at low altitude. In the present age, apparent differences of climatic warming have been observed in the Q-T Plateau, indicating that the warming in high-elevation regions is much higher than that in low-elevation regions. The temperature in over 3 500 m regions of the Q-T Plateau have been increasing at a rate of 0.25×101/a in recent 30 years, but almost no change has taken place in the regions below 500 m. Thus, we concluded that high-altitude regions are more sensitive to climatic changes than the low-altitude regions.