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Abstract
Precipitation on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (TP) in southwestern China is subject to interactions between the complex and variable terrain and the sensitive climate. The regional climate is mainly affected by three circulations: westerlies, the South Asian monsoon, and the East Asian monsoon. Spatial and temporal variations in the rainy season onset were characterised based on daily precipitation from 106 meteorological stations on the TP from 1971 to 2015. Using the Theil–Sen Median trend analysis, Mann–Kendall test and mutation detection, the characteristics and reasons for the variations during the rainy season over the plateau over the past 45 years were investigated. The following results were obtained from the analysis: (1) There were obvious regional differences in the rainy season onset over the TP, and the rainy season began on the southeastern plateau and moved northwestward. (2) The TP rainy season underwent a significant mutation in approximately 1997, and following this mutation, the area affected by the delayed rainy season increased. (3) Against the background of global warming, the rainy season trend over the TP was advanced; however, there were still several multiple contiguous concentrated areas on the plateau. (4) Before the rainy season mutation, there were two centres of delayed precipitation on the plateau, which existed primarily due to their location at the end of the plateau water vapour transport channel. After the mutation, the number of delayed precipitation centres on the plateau increased to three and presented a spatially expanding trend, which may be related to the weakening trend in atmospheric circulation.
Highlights
Precipitation is a key part of the global atmospheric and hydrological cycles and an important factor that affects the distribution of water resources [1]
The average rainy season onset at most stations on the plateau was in the range of 145 ± 25 days, i.e., the onset was between late May and mid-June
The southern and southeastern parts of the Tibet Plateau (TP) are mainly controlled by the South Asian monsoon, the northern and central parts of the plateau are mainly affected by westerlies, and the eastern margin of the plateau is affected by the East Asian monsoon
Summary
Precipitation is a key part of the global atmospheric and hydrological cycles and an important factor that affects the distribution of water resources [1]. Climate warming has accelerated the water cycle by speeding the processes of precipitation, evapotranspiration, and surface runoff and has, thereby, changed the spatial and temporal distributions of water resources, which widely impact the distribution of freshwater resources and the stability of natural ecosystems [2,3]. 22ofof circulation and caused variations in the timing and intensity of precipitation events in the region [1], the sea–land thermal gradient, which has changed the characteristics of atmospheric circulation and [8,9,10,11,12]. Caused the timing intensity of precipitation in the unit region. Of the world, the unique ecological geography unit of the Plateau (TP) has been extensively studied in the climate response field, and the sensitivity of the Plateau of (TP)
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