Climate Fact: The Tibetan Plateau and Water Vapor
While the northern hemisphere as a whole has been in a warming trend since the mid-1970s, the Tibetan Plateau has been warming at a rate of 0.75 degrees Fahrenheit per decade since the early 1950s. This area, known as the “roof of the world,” holds the glaciers that feed the Yangtze, Yellow and Brahmaputra Rivers. These rivers bring water to some of the world’s most populous regions, meaning that what happens in the plateau affects the lives of billions of people. As warming has occurred, the area of the plateau covered by glaciers has been shrinking at a rate of 50 square miles each year. One important component of this warming has been the particularly rapid rise in winter and spring temperatures, which has been linked to an increase in the amount of low-level nocturnal clouds and surface humidity. More surface humidity means that more incoming radiation is being absorbed by the atmosphere near the surface and more low-level nocturnal clouds mean less of the heat absorbed by the surface during the day is escaping into the upper-atmosphere at night.
Seasons: Winter, Spring
Sources: Rangwala, I et al. “Warming of the Tibetan Plateau: Possible influences of the changes in surface water vapor.” Geophysical Research Letters 36 (2009): L06703 and “Rising temperature on Tibet plateau to have global impact.” The Hindu 2 February 2007:
