Spatiotemporal Temperature Variability over the Tibetan Plateau: Altitudinal Dependence Associated with the Global Warming Hiatus

Abstract

The recent slowdown in global warming has initiated a reanalysis of temperature data in some mountainous regions for understanding the consequences and impact that a hiatus has on the climate system. Spatiotemporal temperature variability is analyzed over the Tibetan Plateau because of its sensitivity to climate change with a station network updated to 2014, and its linkages to remote sensing-based variability of MODIS daytime and nighttime temperature are investigated. Results indicate the following: 1) Almost all stations have experienced a notable warming in the time interval 1961-2014, with most obvious warming in winter, which depends on the selected time intervals. 2) There is no clear shift from a predominant warming to a near stagnation during the most recent period (2001-present). 3) Uniform altitudinal dependence of temperature change trends could not be confirmed for all regions, time intervals, and seasons, but sometimes an altitude threshold around 3 km is apparent. 4) Most of the meteorological stations are associated with MODIS temperature warming pixels, and thus regional cooling is missing when considering only the locations of meteorological stations. In summarizing, previous studies based on station observations do not provide a complete picture for the temperature change over the Tibetan Plateau. Remote sensing-based analyses have the potential to find early signals of regional climate changes and assess the impact of global climate changes in complex regional, seasonal, and altitudinal environments.

Elevation‐dependent thermal regime and dynamics of frozen ground in the Bayan Har Mountains, northeastern Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau, southwest China

“…Instead, permafrost temperatures decreased at sites at relatively high elevations with favorable vegetation conditions and a wet or even saturated active layer. This partly supports the findings that the warming trends are inconsistent with elevations on the QTP as revealed from remote sensing‐based surface temperatures …”

“…This partly supports the findings that the warming trends are inconsistent with elevations on the QTP as revealed from remote sensing-based surface temperatures. 59,60 This study indicates that changes are more dramatic for seasonally frozen ground or newly disappeared permafrost in the BHM, especially for sites near the lower limits of permafrost, such as QSH-1 and XXH-1 (Figures 7 and 11). There was less warming for permafrost in intermontane basins, particularly where it is covered with dense vegetation and where T ZAA approaches 0°C.…”

Satellite data reveal southwestern Tibetan plateau cooling since 2001 due to snow‐albedo feedback

“…Accurate quantification of temperature change on the TP is essential for effective evaluation of current and future sustainability of the solid water resource. Much research has concentrated on climate warming with respect to the amplitude or rate of warming (Liu and Chen, 2000;You et al, 2008;Yan and Liu, 2014), spatial patterns (Yang et al, 2014), seasonality (Guo and Wang, 2012) and elevationdependent warming (Rangwala and Miller, 2012;Pepin et al, 2015;Cai et al, 2017;Guo et al, 2019). However, all such observation-based studies are plagued by the scarcity of observations.…”

Characteristics of Water‐Heat Exchanges and Inconsistent Surface Temperature Changes at an Elevational Permafrost Site on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau

“…Land surface net radiation flux increased with glacial retreating and topsoil wetting in recent decades, especially in mountainous regions (Han et al, 2017). The variation of surface radiation budgets likely contributes to the rising of LST, as confirmed by the remote sensing-based Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) daytime and nighttime temperatures (Cai et al, 2017). Consequently, the alpine ecosystems (e.g., alpine meadows and alpine swamp meadows) degraded significantly under the synergic effects of climate warming and permafrost degradation (Wang, Liu, et al, 2010;Xue et al, 2017).…”

“…However, surface temperatures indeed differ in the near‐surface air temperature ( T a ) measured at a screen height of 1.5–2.0 m, the land (or skin) surface temperature ( LST ) on the top of canopy layer, and the ground surface temperature ( GST ) 0–5 cm beneath the surface vegetation (Luo, Jin, Marchenko, & Romanovsky, ). Due to easy of detection, most studies concerning the surface temperature changes were mainly related to T a and LST (e.g., Cai et al, ; Qin et al, ; K. Wang, et al, ). However, GST is more relevant when considering the thermodynamics of permafrost and other related cold‐climate processes and landscape evolutions (French, ).…”