Spatial patterns of wet season precipitation vertical gradients on the Tibetan Plateau and the surroundings

Abstract The Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding (TPS) with its vast land mass and high elevation affects regional climate and weather. The TPS is also the headwater of 9 major Asian rivers that provide fresh water for 1.65 billion people and many ecosystems, with wet season (May–September) precipit...

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Autores principales:	Lan Cuo, Yongxin Zhang
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f856aebff117463ca68931ad73da0a9a
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f856aebff117463ca68931ad73da0a9a2021-12-02T11:52:41ZSpatial patterns of wet season precipitation vertical gradients on the Tibetan Plateau and the surroundings10.1038/s41598-017-05345-62045-2322https://doaj.org/article/f856aebff117463ca68931ad73da0a9a2017-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05345-6https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding (TPS) with its vast land mass and high elevation affects regional climate and weather. The TPS is also the headwater of 9 major Asian rivers that provide fresh water for 1.65 billion people and many ecosystems, with wet season (May–September) precipitation being the critical component of the fresh water. Using station observations, ERA-Interim and MERRA2 reanalysis, we find that wet season precipitation displays vertical gradients (i.e., changes with elevation) that vary within the region on the TPS. The decrease of precipitation with elevation occurs in the interior TPS with elevation larger than 4000 m, little or no change over the southeastern TPS, and increase elsewhere. The increase of precipitation with elevation is caused by increasing convective available potential energy (CAPE) and decreasing lifting condensation level (LCL) with elevation overwhelming the effects of decreasing total column water vapor (TCWV) with elevation. The decreasing precipitation with elevation is due to the combined effects of increasing LCL and decreasing TCWV. LCL and CAPE play a more important role than TCWV in determining the spatial patterns. These findings are important for hydrology study in observation scarce mountainous areas, water resources and ecosystem managements in the region.Lan CuoYongxin ZhangNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Lan Cuo Yongxin Zhang Spatial patterns of wet season precipitation vertical gradients on the Tibetan Plateau and the surroundings
description	Abstract The Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding (TPS) with its vast land mass and high elevation affects regional climate and weather. The TPS is also the headwater of 9 major Asian rivers that provide fresh water for 1.65 billion people and many ecosystems, with wet season (May–September) precipitation being the critical component of the fresh water. Using station observations, ERA-Interim and MERRA2 reanalysis, we find that wet season precipitation displays vertical gradients (i.e., changes with elevation) that vary within the region on the TPS. The decrease of precipitation with elevation occurs in the interior TPS with elevation larger than 4000 m, little or no change over the southeastern TPS, and increase elsewhere. The increase of precipitation with elevation is caused by increasing convective available potential energy (CAPE) and decreasing lifting condensation level (LCL) with elevation overwhelming the effects of decreasing total column water vapor (TCWV) with elevation. The decreasing precipitation with elevation is due to the combined effects of increasing LCL and decreasing TCWV. LCL and CAPE play a more important role than TCWV in determining the spatial patterns. These findings are important for hydrology study in observation scarce mountainous areas, water resources and ecosystem managements in the region.
format	article
author	Lan Cuo Yongxin Zhang
author_facet	Lan Cuo Yongxin Zhang
author_sort	Lan Cuo
title	Spatial patterns of wet season precipitation vertical gradients on the Tibetan Plateau and the surroundings
title_short	Spatial patterns of wet season precipitation vertical gradients on the Tibetan Plateau and the surroundings
title_full	Spatial patterns of wet season precipitation vertical gradients on the Tibetan Plateau and the surroundings
title_fullStr	Spatial patterns of wet season precipitation vertical gradients on the Tibetan Plateau and the surroundings
title_full_unstemmed	Spatial patterns of wet season precipitation vertical gradients on the Tibetan Plateau and the surroundings
title_sort	spatial patterns of wet season precipitation vertical gradients on the tibetan plateau and the surroundings
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/f856aebff117463ca68931ad73da0a9a
work_keys_str_mv	AT lancuo spatialpatternsofwetseasonprecipitationverticalgradientsonthetibetanplateauandthesurroundings AT yongxinzhang spatialpatternsofwetseasonprecipitationverticalgradientsonthetibetanplateauandthesurroundings
_version_	1718395022838071296

Spatial patterns of wet season precipitation vertical gradients on the Tibetan Plateau and the surroundings

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