Recently, Huang Jianping, academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Liu Yuzhi, professor of the College of Atmospheric Sciences of Lanzhou University, have proposed that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a transfer station for the transport of aerosols such as dust. They have clarified that aerosols play an important role in regulating the effect of plateau heat pump, and confirmed the contribution mechanism of clouds to the climate warming of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is found that the aerosol-cloud interaction over the Tibetan Plateau has an important influence on local and downstream weather and climate. The paper was published in Earth Science Reviews.

       The team proposed that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a transfer station for dust and other aerosols. Through the 'chimney effect' generated by the large terrain, the plateau, dust and man-made aerosols from Central Asia, South Asia and Southwest Asia will be transported to the plateau, and further transported to the top of the troposphere. In terms of the cloud characteristics of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the team confirmed that the cloud has an important contribution to the plateau warming. At the same time, they found that the dust in the Taklimakan Desert can be lifted to the north of the plateau, and the dust and anthropogenic aerosols in India can also be transported to the south of the plateau, participating in the formation process of the plateau cloud, change the characteristics of the clouds, and have an important impact on the local precipitation.

       In addition, the team also found that the convective cloud over the Tibetan Plateau moved further eastward under the action of west wind and merged with local convective cloud in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which delayed the heavy precipitation and enhanced the precipitation intensity in this region.

       This study provides a new perspective on the mechanism of aerosol-cloud interaction on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, provides new evidence for the attribution of abnormal warming and glacier melting on the Tibetan Plateau, and deepens the understanding of climate change on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

 

       Related paper information: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.104216