Attribution of the Tibetan Plateau to northern drought

• 来源期刊: 国家科学评论（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2020,（3）
• 页码范围: 489-492
• 页数: 4页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwz191

摘要

The Tibetan Plateau (TP),which is located in Asia and has an average elevation of over 4000 m,acts as a raised source of heat [1] and an isolated region of humidity in the atmosphere [2].The TP serves as a'world water tower'because it stores large amounts of water as glaciers,lakes and rivers [2].Furthermore,previous studies have found that the eastward outflow of water vapor and clouds away from the TP contributes significantly to precipitation over downstream regions.However,the dynamic mechanism behind these observations is still unclear.It is known that the key driver in the transportation of air and water resources from the TP is the wind field.Under global warming,the poleward limit change of the tropical Hadley circulation and the thermal effect of the terrain over the TP forces the mid-latitude subtropical westerly jet (SWJ) to shift [3].However,the true effects of the SWJ shift are unclear.Therefore,to reduce uncertainties in weather forecasting and climate prediction,a dynamic explanation of the relationship between atmospheric circulation and its influence on precipitation over the northern area of China is urgent.