Reply on RC2

Abstract

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) plays a vital role in Asian and even global atmospheric circulation, through the interactions between land and atmosphere. It experienced significant climate warming and spatially and temporally variant wetting over the past half century. Because of the importance of land surface status to the interactions, determining the wetting/drying of the TP from individual changes in precipitation (Prep) or temperature is difficult. Soil moisture (SM) is the water synthesis of the surface status. The persistent deficit of SM (SM drought) is more sensitive to climate change than normal SM. This study first explored the climate wetting/drying of the TP from variations in historical SM droughts over 1961–2014, with a focus on spatiotemporal patterns, long-term variations, and climate causes of summer (May–September) SM droughts based on multiple observation and reanalysis data. The results showed comparatively frequent and severe droughts in the central and southern regions, particularly in the semi-arid and sub-humid zones. SM drought exhibited an abrupt and significant (p < 0.05) alleviation in the central TP in the mid-1990s. The prominent drought alleviation indicated a hydro-climate shift to a wetter plateau, not merely steady trends in the literature. We demonstrated that the wetting shift was dominated by Prep over potential evapotranspiration (PET). By contrast, the in-phase trends before and after the shift were predominantly driven by the PET. Furthermore, the Prep dominance was largely attributed to a phase transition of the Atlantic multi-decadal oscillation from cold to warm, accompanied by a weakening westerly since the mid-1990s. The PET control on in-phase trends was realized through multiple climate control of temperature, radiation, and vapor pressure deficit. Regionally, the wetting shift was distinct from semi-arid to sub-humid, and from sub-humid to humid climate. Such spatiotemporal changes may affect the TP’s atmospheric circulation and, subsequently, the Asian monsoon and global circulation, in addition to fragile ecosystems in the TP.