Zhou et al. (2025) Glacier induced different changing patterns of temperature and precipitation on glacial regions compared with nonglacial regions over Tibetan Plateau

Identification

• Journal: Atmospheric Research
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-10-15
• Authors: Jiaying Zhou, Weijun Sun, Baojuan Huai, Yuzhe Wang, Hongmin An, Rensheng Chen, Chuntan Han, Lei Wang
• DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosres.2025.108576

Research Groups

• College of Geography and Environment, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China
• Qilian Alpine Ecology and Hydrology Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China

Short Summary

This study compares temperature and precipitation trends between glacial and nonglacial regions of the Tibetan Plateau from 1979 to 2022, revealing that glaciers induce distinct regional climate change patterns, including slower warming and greater precipitation increases in glacial areas due to altered surface energy fluxes and water vapor dynamics.

Objective

• To compare temperature and precipitation trends between glacial and nonglacial regions of the Tibetan Plateau from 1979 to 2022.
• To examine the effects of glaciers on regional climate change patterns.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Tibetan Plateau (TP), specifically comparing glacial and nonglacial regions at similar elevations.
• Temporal Scale: 1979 to 2022 (44 years).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not explicitly stated for climate modeling; analysis based on comparisons of measured and reanalysis data, including calculations of surface energy fluxes.
• Data sources: Measured data and reanalysis data.

Main Results

• The overall warming trend across the Tibetan Plateau is 0.33 °C per decade. Glacial regions exhibit a slightly lower warming rate (0.30 °C per decade) compared to nonglacial regions (0.32 °C per decade) at similar elevations, particularly in summer.
• The overall precipitation trend over the entire Tibetan Plateau is 14.40 mm per decade. Glacial regions show a greater increase (11.75 mm per decade) than nonglacial regions (10.90 mm per decade) at similar elevations.
• Upward latent heat flux in glacial regions (9.82 W/m²) significantly exceeds that in nonglacial regions (9.12 W/m²).
• Sensible heat flux in glacial regions (11.30 W/m²) is markedly lower than that in nonglacial regions (13.40 W/m²).
• More energy is consumed in glacier ablation and increasing ice temperature in glacial regions, leading to a slower air temperature trend.
• The glacier effect leads to stronger water vapor convergence in glacial regions, resulting in a greater precipitation trend, although enhanced glacier winds during summer cause anomalous precipitation changes.

Contributions

• This study quantitatively demonstrates that glaciers induce different changing patterns of temperature and precipitation on glacial regions compared with nonglacial regions over the Tibetan Plateau.
• It highlights the importance of considering glacier effects in regional climate studies by providing specific insights into the roles of surface energy fluxes (latent and sensible heat) and water vapor convergence in these differential climatic trends.

Funding

• Not provided in the excerpt.

Citation

@article{Zhou2025Glacier,
  author = {Zhou, Jiaying and Sun, Weijun and Huai, Baojuan and Wang, Yuzhe and An, Hongmin and Chen, Rensheng and Han, Chuntan and Wang, Lei},
  title = {Glacier induced different changing patterns of temperature and precipitation on glacial regions compared with nonglacial regions over Tibetan Plateau},
  journal = {Atmospheric Research},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1016/j.atmosres.2025.108576},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2025.108576}
}