Abstract
Abstract. The Tibetan Plateau (TP) plays an essential role in modulating regional and global climate, and its influence on climate is also affected by human-related processes, including changes in atmospheric composition. However, observations of atmospheric composition, especially vertical profile observations, remain sparse and rare on the TP, due to extremely high altitude, topographical heterogeneity and the grinding environment. Accordingly, the forcing and feedback of atmospheric composition from rapidly changing surrounding regions to regional environmental and climate change in the TP remains poorly understood. This paper introduces a high-time-resolution (∼15 min) vertical profile observational dataset of atmospheric composition (aerosols, NO2, HCHO and HONO) on the TP for more than 1 year (2017–2019) using a passive remote sensing technique. The diurnal pattern, vertical distribution and seasonal variations of these pollutants are documented here in detail. The sharing of this dataset would benefit the scientific community in exploring source–receptor relationships and the forcing and feedback of atmospheric composition on the TP to the regional and global climate. It also provides potential to improve satellite retrievals and to facilitate the development and improvement of models in cold regions. The dataset is freely available at Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5336460; Xing, 2021).
Highlights
The Tibetan Plateau (TP) and the surrounding Hindu Kush Himalayan mountains are referred to as the world’s “Third Pole” due to their vast wealth of areas and glaciers (Qiu, 2008)
This paper introduces a hightime-resolution (∼ 15 min) vertical profile observational dataset of atmospheric composition on the TP for more than 1 year (2017–2019) using a passive remote sensing technique
Ample evidence has demonstrated the significance of atmospheric composition in influencing the retreat of glaciers on the TP (Xu et al, 2009), while large uncertainties remain in understanding the sources, mainly owing to lack of long-term observations that have been obstructed by complex topography and a harsh environment (Cong et al, 2015a; Barnett et al, 2005; Pu et al, 2007; Bolch et al, 2012; Kang et al, 2016)
Summary
The Tibetan Plateau (TP) and the surrounding Hindu Kush Himalayan mountains are referred to as the world’s “Third Pole” due to their vast wealth of areas and glaciers (Qiu, 2008). Ample evidence has demonstrated the significance of atmospheric composition in influencing the retreat of glaciers on the TP (Xu et al, 2009), while large uncertainties remain in understanding the sources, mainly owing to lack of long-term observations that have been obstructed by complex topography and a harsh environment (Cong et al, 2015a; Barnett et al, 2005; Pu et al, 2007; Bolch et al, 2012; Kang et al, 2016).
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