Uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and environmental changes

Major progress, problems, and challenges of recent investigation of the Tibetan Plateau uplift processes and resulting environmental changes are reviewed and summarized briefly, which especially covers the National Tibetan Research Projects of the Chinese Eighth (1992-1996) and Ninth (1997-2001) "Five-Year Projects". The Tibetan Plateau uplift is a complicated multiple cyclic process. The Gangdise and Himalayas began to uplift in the Middle Eocene and Early Miocene respectively, while the main part of the Plateau merely underwent corresponding passive deformation and secular denudation, resulting in two planation surfaces. The third and also the strongest uplift involved the whole Plateau and its marginal mountains commenced at 3.6 Ma. Successive Kunlun-Huanghe movement at 1.1-0.6 Ma and Gonghe movement at 0.15 Ma raised the Plateau to its present height. The Asian monsoonal system and Asian natural environment formed in response to these tectonic uplifts.     

Thermal adaptation of the large-scale circulation to the summer heating over the Tibetan Plateau

The potential vorticity equation is employed to diagnose the variation in the large-scale atmospheric circulation in July by using the NCAR/NCEP daily reanalysis data from 1986 to 1995. Based on the theogy of thermal adaptation, the schematic diagram of the formation and maintenance of the circulation over the Tibetan Plateau is revealed in this paper. The result shows that near the surface of ground is the positive potential vorticity source produced by the increasing diabatic heating with height, which maintains the cyclonic circulation, and that the positive Ertel potential vorticitv (PV) source is balanced by friction dissipation. On the other hand, in the upper troposphere the negative PV produced by the decreasing diabatic heating with height maintains the anticyclone, and it is balanced by the divergence of the negative PV. The Gauss' theorem has been applied to analyze the Ertel potential vorticity flux crossing each of the lateral boundaries of the area over the Tibetan Plateau. The result shows that the negative PV flux is transferred through the eastern and northern boundaries of the area from the Tibetan Plateau region to the outer world. It is evident that the Tibetan Plateau region is an important source of negative vorticity of the atmosphere.     

青藏高原上中尺度对流系统东移的热力场特征

利用国家气象中心高分辨率有限区域分析预报系统产品(HLAFS)中的数值格点预报资料,运用空间数据挖掘中的聚类方法 (K 均值法和CLARANS法),对影响1998年夏季青藏高原上中尺度对流系统（MCSs）东移的热力场的空间分布特征进行了研究,得到了有利于MCSs移动和传播的热力学条件.结果表明,MCSs周边热力场中的温度场、湿度场以及水汽通量散度场空间分布特征的变化可以为MCSs发展和演变的预测提供重要线索,从而为探讨高原上MCSs的移动规律,揭示其发生和发展的机理提供了一种有效的新途径.     

Mass exchange between stratosphere and trotosphere over the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings

Using NCEP dataset we calculate the exchange of mass across the thermal tropopause by the Wei's method from 1978 to 1997 over the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings. We also calculate the annual variation of aerosol and ozone of 100 hPa level with the monthly SAGE dataset from July 1988 to December 1993. Results indicate that ( i ) the mass from troposphere to stratosphere is magistral station in summer over the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings. The air transport reaches the summit in midsummer with two large value centers, which lie in the north of Bengal Bay and southeastern Tibetan Plateau, respectively. A large value center, which lies over the Tibetan Plateau, is smaller than that aforementioned. In winter, the mass transport is from stratosphere to troposphere, and reaches the minimum in January. ( ii ) As far as the 19-year mean cross-tropopause mass exchange from June to September is concerned, the net mass transport is 14.84x1018 kg from troposphere to stratosphere. So the area from the Tibetan Plateau to the Bengal Bay is a channel through which the mass of lower atmosphere layer gets into upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. (iii) The cross-tropopause mass may take the lower level aerosol to the tropopause. Then, the concentration of aerosol near the tropopause becomes larger, which may cause the content of ozone to reduce.     

Late Cenozoic high-resolution magnetostratigraphy in the Kunlun Pass Basin and its implications for the uplift of the northern Tibetan Plateau

The Kunlun Pass Basin, located in the middle of the eastern Kunlun Mountains, received relatively continuous late Cenozoic sediments from the surrounding mountains, archiving great information to understand the deformation and uplift histories of the northern Tibetan Plateau. The Kunlun-Yellow River Movement, identified from the tectonomorphologic and sedimentary evolution of the Kunlun Pass Basin by Cui Zhijiu et al. （1997, 1998）, is roughly coincident with many important global and Plateau climatic and environmental events, becoming a crucial time interval to understand tectonic-climatic interactions. However, the ages used to constrict the events remain great uncertainty. Here, we present the results of detailed magnetostratigraphy of the late Cenozoic sediments in the Kunlun Pass Basin, which show the basin sediments were formed between about 3.6 Ma and 0.5 Ma and the Kunlun-Yellow River Movement occurred at 1.2 to ～0.78 Ma. The lithology, sedimentary facies and lithofacies associations divide the basin into five stages of tectonosedimentary evolution, indicating the northern Tibetan Plateau having experienced five episodes of tectonic uplifts at ～3.6, 2.69-2.58, 1.77, 1.2, 0.87 and ～0.78 Ma since the Pliocene.     

初进高原的汉族与世居藏族血液学指标的比较研究

目的：通过比较初进高原（1周之内）的汉族与高原世居藏族的血常规18项指标及血压、心率、血氧饱和度,研究低氧对机体代谢功能的影响,尤其是低氧对机体血液学指标的影响。方法：采用指尖采血的方法,利用Sysmax的Poch100i型血液自动分析仪（日本产）进行血常规18项指标的检测;使用水银血压测量仪进行静息状态下右上肢肱动脉血压的测定;测定静息状态下的心率;使用NP-40型血氧饱和度测定仪（日本）检测血氧饱和度。采集的数据利用SPSS统计软件进行分析。结果：①进藏1周之内的汉族,其血红蛋白、红细胞压积、平均血红蛋白量、平均血红蛋白浓度、血小板、白细胞计数均小于世居高原的藏族（P〈0.05）,而红细胞计数、平均红细胞体积与世居高原的藏族无差别（P〉0.05）;②进藏1周之内的汉族的收缩压、舒张压、心率均高于世居高原的藏族（P〈0.05）,而血氧饱和度却低于世居高原的藏族（P〈0.05）;结论：进藏1周之内的汉族在红细胞系统指标（HGB、HCT、MCH、MCHC）及血压、心率、血氧饱和度等指标与世居高原的藏族青年存在明显差异。应进一步扩大样本量,以阐明汉族在高原习服过程中上述指标的变化程度和变化规律,为更好地了解高原习服的机制提供理论依据。     

Dust storms and loess accumulation on the Tibetan Plateau：A case study of dust event on 4 March 2003 in Lhasa

Whether the Tibetan Plateau is a significant dust source area is of great importance, because this is related to the understanding of sources, accumulation and environmental effects of dusts on the Tibetan Plateau and inthe Far East-Pacific Ocean regions as well as to the evointion of coupling of the Tibetan Plateau and atmaspbere-oeean-continent exchange. Synoptic dynamics and remote sensing tracing of a dust storm on 3 to 5 March, 2003 in Lhasa onSouth Tibet demonstrate that the Tibetan Plateau possessesall factors and conditions of generating dust storms. Accompanied with this dust storm is a strong ascending stream onthe Plateau which has raised various sizes of durst particlesinto different levels. The lifted coarse particles were largelyfallen down and accumulated as loess on the eastern TibetanPlateau, and the fine particles were translated by the westerly jet and subsided in the northern Pacific Ocean. The spa-tial-temporal distribution of dust-storms between years 1961and 2000 ou the Plateau shows that duststorms mainly occurin winter and early spring with high frequency, and tile pathof dust storm moves gradually from south to north, which isclosely coupled with the northward moving of the westerlyjet from winter to spring over the Tibetan Plateau. Com-pared with other twelve dust source areas in China. the Ti-betan Plateau is one of the key dust souree areas for thelong-distance transport because its high occurring frequencyand elevation cause fine particles easily to be lifted into thezone of the westerly jet.     

Formate and acetate records in the Muztagata ice core, Northwest Tibetan Plateau

Formic and acetic acids (HCOOH, CH3COOH), originating mainly from biosphere (release by plants, combustion of biomass, motor exhaust and oxidation of organism, etc.), are two simple organic chemical com- pounds in troposphere. Though the concentration of these two organic acids is low in atmosphere, they are the main [1] sources of free acidity in precipitation of remote regions , and contribute minor chemical constituents to the balance between anions and cations, especially to some atm…     

青藏高原湖泊沉积记录与环境变化研究

 过去全球变化研究是人类认识气候与环境变化事实与规律,客观评价现代环境在气候与环境发展历史中位置的重要手段,能够为未来气候与环境变化的预测提供科学的检验工具。介绍了湖泊沉积物环境代用指标与气候要素关系定量化的研究,简要回顾利用湖泊沉积物重建高原最近2万年环境变化历史研究成果,阐述高原湖泊沉积对气候变化的敏感响应。     

Thermal difference between the Tibetan Plateau and the plain east of Plateau and its influence on rainfall over China in the summer

There exist thermal differences between the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and the plain east of the TP, and between land and sea in East Asia. The influence of the land-sea thermal contrast on the precipitation in East China has been widely investigated; however, a few studies have paid attention to the role of the TP-plain thermal difference. Thus, using the National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis data and the observation data of China from 1951 t...     

A tropical paleosol at high elevation in the Yulong Mountains and its implication on the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau

A paleosol dated for about 500–700 kaBP and developed on a glacial deposit at ～3 000 m a.s.l. in the Yulong Mountains is studied using soil chemical, morphological and mineralogical methods. The analytical results indicate that this soil was formed under tropical and humid conditions and can be classified as red soil, which cannot be formed in the present alpine environment at the studied site. This implies that the southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau has experienced intense uplift since the formation of the paleosol. According to the necessary conditions for the formation of the modern red soil in China, we estimate that the uplift height of the Plateau since 500–700 kaBP would have exceeded 800 m.     

Use of a multi-temporal grid method to analyze changes in glacier coverage in the Tibetan Plateau

This paper describes a multi-temporal grid method for quantifying changes in glacier coverage. A multi-temporal grid synthesizes spatial, attribute and process components of glacier information by sequentially combining spatial data from satellite images or maps. It enables us to identify glacier retreat and advance areas in individual grid cells for three or more periods of data sets. Discrepancies among the sequential data sets were detected graphically and numerically, including noise from geo-location error, misclassification, or different interpretation results in various pixel resolutions. Noise was detected and corrected to a large extent by visualization of the synthetic grid. The paper compares the results with that from a common method based on individual data sets, focusing on the Mt. Naimona'Nyi and Mt. Qomolangma regions at the northern slopes of the Himalayas. Results show that the identified noise (e.g. by 2.5 km2 in the Mt. Naimona'Nyi region) is much larger than measurement uncertainty calculated by sensor resolution and co-registration error (e.g. by 0.015 km2 in the Mt. Naimona'Nyi region). After noise removal, we notice that glacier recession clearly accelerates. The multi-temporal grid method results in a better quantification of glacier variation. It shows that glaciers in the Himalayas have both retreated and advanced during the last several decades, with retreat dominating and accelerating. Glaciers on the northern slope of Mt. Qomolangma in the middle Himalayas retreat more extensively and faster than those in the Mt. Naimona'Nyi region in the western Himalayas.     

An ice-core record of vegetation and climate changes in the central Tibetan Plateau during the last 550 years

We present a 550-year ice-core pollen record with a 5-year resolution from the Puruogangri ice field in the central Tibetan Plateau.Analysis of the relationship between pollen record and instrumental observations suggests that the sum of the steppe and meadow pollen taxa is a good indicator of summer (June-August) temperature,whereas the ratios of Cyperaceae/(Gramineae+Artemisia) [Cy/(G+A)] as well as M/S (meadow to steppe percentages) are indicative of humidity changes in this region.Together with δ18O and...     

Millennial-scale monsoonal climatic change from paleosol sequences on the Chinese western Loess Plateau and Tibetan Plateau: a brief summary and review

This paper summarizes the work from the INQUA 1997 Project "Response of soil formation to short-warm-episodes of Asian summer monsoon" and its seeded related international and domestic grants. It reviews the effects of the millennial monsoonal changes on the loess- paleosols of the Chinese Loess and Tibetan Plateaus. High-resolution proxy records of pedogenesis and monsoons demonstrate that both Asian winter and summer monsoons were unstable and synchronously and inversely coupled during the last glaciation. During that time rapid episodic cycles of cold surges and warm enhancements spanned only ca. 1-2 ka in high- frequency domain. Sub-Milankovitch cycles (6-8 ka) of progressive cooling or weakening in low- frequency domain generally resembled the pattern of the North Atlantic climatic change. However, during the last interglacial, Asian winter and summer monsoons seemed to vary independently, the former being stable and the later unstable. Soil formation seems to occur in surprisingly fast response to the summer monsoon warm enhancements, resulting in weakly or moderately developed paleosol sequences. North Atlantic and polar cold air surges though the westerlies and other paths, and the north-south swing of the westerlies beside the Tibetan Plateau, may be the alternative mechanisms for the rapid monsoonal changes during the last glacial. But in the last interglacial, the summer monsoons worked largely independently.     

Analysis of aerodynamic and thermodynamic parameters on the grassy marshland surface of Tibetan Plateau

The aerodynamic roughness z0m' the thermodynamic roughness zoh and the excess resistance to heat transfer kB are analyzed with the data obtained from Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment ( GEWEX) Asian Monsoon Experiment on Tibetan Plateau (GAME/Tibet) in the Intensive Observation Period (IOP). 1998. Some new concepts on the aerodynamic and thermodynamic parameters over the grassy marshland surface of the Tibetan Plateau are proposed.     

The terraced thermal contrast among the Tibetan Plateau, the East Asian plain, and the western North Pacific and its impacts on the seasonal transition of East Asian climate

The heating sources over the Tibetan Plateau （TP）, the East Asian plain, and the western North Pacific （WNP） form a terraced thermal contrast in the west-east direction. Over East Asia and the WNP, this zonal thermal contrast contributes as high as 45 % to the seasonal variance based on the EOF analysis and exerts a significant impact on the seasonal transition of the East Asian climate through the enhancement of the year-round southerly to the southeast of the TP in late March and early April. This effect is investigated in this study using a high-resolution regional atmospheric model by doubling the surface sen- sible heat flux, respectively, over the TP, the East Asian plain, and the WNP in three sensitivity experiments. Comparisons among the experiments reveal that doubling the surface sensible heat flux over the WNP has little upstream response over East Asia. The increased zonal thermal contrast between the TP and the East Asian plain due to doubled heat flux over the TP would induce anomalous northerly over the region with year-round southerly to the southeast of the TP and weaken its seasonal enhancement. Doubling the surface sensible heat flux over the East Asian plain decreases the zonal thermal contrast and leads to southerly anomaly over the region with year-round southerly to the southeast of the TP and South China, which is favorable for the enhancement of the year-round southerly and its eastward extension.     

The bulk transfer coefficients and surface fluxes on the western Tibetan Plateau

On the gradient observational data of the atmospheric surface layer from September 1997 to December 1998 collected by two sets of Automatic Weather Station (AWS) installed in Gaize and Shiquanhe on the western Tibetan Plateau, mean surface roughness lengths at the two stations above are determined to be 2.7 and 2.9 cm, respectively. The bulk transfer coefficients each day are computed by the profile-flux method, means of the bulk transfer coefficient for momentum (i.e. drag coefficient) in 1998 are 4.83×10⁻³ and 4.75×10³ at the two stations. The surface fluxes of momentum, sensible heat and latent heat each day are further estimated by the bulk formulas, annual mean of these fluxes is 3.4×10⁻² and 1.8×10²N/m², 73.1 and 67.2 W/m², 15.4 and 2.9 W/m², respectively. The diurnal and seasonal variations are obtained by a composite method and the relationships among the heat transfers between land and atmosphere, plateau monsoon and plateau rain season are also discussed.     

Evolution of the East Asian monsoon and its response to uplift of the Tibetan Plateau since 1.8 Ma recorded by major elements in sediments of the South China Sea

Evolution of the East Asian monsoon and its response to uplift of the Tibetan Plateau has been investigated in the study of global change. Core sediment samples drilled in the South China Sea during ODP Leg184 are the best materials for studying long-term variability of the East Asian monsoon. R-mode factor analysis of major elements in the fine grain-sized carbonate-free sediments (<4 μm) of the upper 185 mcd splice of ODP Site 1146 drilled during Leg184 in the South China Sea shows that Ti, TFe2O3, MgO, K2O, P, CaO, and Al2O3 are representative of a terrestrial factor. The variation in the terrestrial factor score is subject to chemical erosion in the source region and thus indicates the evolution of the East Asian summer monsoon. The terrestrial factor score has three stepwise decreases at ~1.3 Ma, ~0.9 Ma, and ~0.6 Ma, indicating the phased weakening of the East Asian summer monsoon is related to wholly stepwise, quick uplifts of the Tibetan Plateau since 1.8 Ma. The periodic fluctuation of the terrestrial factor score since ~0.6 Ma indicates that the glacial-interglacial cycles have been the main force driving the evolution of the East Asian monsoon. As in the case of Chinese loess, the long-term evolution of the East Asian monsoon recorded in sediments of the South China Sea reflects a coupled effect of the glacial-interglacial cycle and uplift of the Tibetan Plateau.     

青藏高原中西部湖泊生物标志物记录的过去两千年气候变化

以青藏高原中西部湖泊达则错和阿翁错为研究对象,通过分析湖泊沉积物岩芯中GDGTs、长链不饱和烯酮与叶蜡化合物单体氢同位素等生物分子标志物获得过去2000 a以来青藏高原中西部定量的温度与降水同位素记录,以期探讨晚全新世以来不同时段青藏高原气候变化区域特征,并揭示过去2000 a季风与西风对青藏高原影响范围的变化.结果表明:(1)青藏高原气候变化存在强烈的区域性特征,两个湖泊均存在中世纪暖期(MWP),但是暖期持续的时间有所不同,高原西部(阿翁错) MWP持续时间明显长于高原中部(达则错);达则错有明显的小冰期(LIA)降温,阿翁错没有发现明显的LIA,可能受样品分辨率低的影响;过去200 a达则错温度有缓慢降低趋势,可能是冰融水补给湖泊温度变化滞后于气候变化的表现.(2)过去2000 a印度夏季风在青藏高原的最北界线可能发生了北移,在距今1000～2000 a,夏季风边界线位于阿翁错以北、达则错以南;但在过去1000 a印度季风边界线移动到阿翁错和达则错以北.     

Age dating of lacustrine sediments in Lake Tianshuihai of the Tibetan Plateau by using U-series isochron method and its significance

The age of the clastic-clay sediments with varied content of carbonate in core TS95 taken from the Lake Tianshuihai in the northwest of the Tibetan Plateau was determined successfully by using the total sample dissolution U-series isochron method for the first time. With this method, the serial absolute timescale (isotope time scale) covered the last 240 ka in the main body of the Tibetan Plateau with a sea level up to 4000 m is also established for the first time, thereby laying the foundation for the research on the paleoclimate and palaeoenvironment in the Lake Tianshuihai region as well as the relationship between evolution of the Tibetan Plateau and global changes. In addition to a brief introduction of the basic principles, the procedures of experiments, and the results, this note also presents the adaptability and superiority of this method as well as its possible problems.