Earth’s ‘third pole’ and its role in global climate

Phys.org  August 25, 2023 Researchers in China reviewed recent advances in research regarding land–atmosphere coupling processes over the Tibetan Plate (TP) and concluded that climate warming has caused glacier retreat, permafrost degradation, and a general increase in vegetation density, while climate wetting has led to a significant increase in the number of major lakes, primarily through increased precipitation. The TP drives surface pollutants to the upper troposphere in an Asian summer monsoon (ASM) anticyclone circulation before spreading to the lower stratosphere. The thermal forcing of the TP plays an essential role in the ASM. TP forcing can modulate hemispheric-scale atmospheric […]