Phys.org March 28, 2023
Despite knowledge of the presence of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) in reorganizing large-scale atmospheric circulation, it remains unclear how surface albedo darkening over TP will impact local glaciers and remote Asian monsoon systems. An international team of researchers (USA – Columbia University, Austria, Germany, France) used a coupled land-atmosphere global climate model and a glacier model to address these questions. According to their model, under a high-emission scenario, TP surface albedo darkening would increase local temperature by 0.24 K by the end of this century. This warming would strengthen the elevated heat pump of TP, increasing South Asian monsoon precipitation while exacerbating the current “South Flood-North Drought” pattern over East Asia. The albedo darkening-induced climate change would also lead to an accompanying TP glacier volume loss of 6.9%, which would further increase to 25.2% at the equilibrium, with a notable loss in western TP. According to the researchers their findings emphasize the importance of land-surface change responses in projecting future water resource availability, with important implications for water management policies… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Schematic diagram of the impact of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) surface darkening on the Asian Summer Monsoon. Credit: Nature Communications volume 14, Article number: 32 (2023)