The ‘roof of the world’ is getting ever hotter
Print Edition
THE Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, or the Roof of the world, has become warmer and wetter under the impact of global climate change, scientists said.
The plateau, located about 3,000 to 5,000 meters above sea level, covers Tibet, western Qinghai Province and neighboring areas in southwestern China. It contains thousands of glaciers and is home to the headwaters of some major rivers that flow through China and surrounding regions, including the Lancang (Mekong) River.
The plateau, sensitive to climate change, has become warmer and wetter in the last decade, Chinese scientists said yesterday.
Lakes on the plateau are expanding, glaciers are retreating, with extreme weather conditions frequent, heightening risks of natural disasters, they say.
According to the China Global Atmosphere Watch Baseline Observatory at Mount Waliguan, carbon dioxide concentration has risen by 2 parts per million a year. The station is one of 31 global baseline observatories established by the World Meteorological Organization.
“The data tell us greenhouse gas emissions are still a big problem, and it is hard to buck the trend of global warming,” said Zhang Guoqing, head of the observatory. “We probably have no way to stop the plateau from getting wetter and warmer, but we need to study its cause and cope with the challenges.”
In the next 50 years, ample rainfall will help forests grow in the Sanjiangyuan, the head of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang/Mekong rivers, scientists said.
Areas that used to be too harsh for humans have now become habitable. Herders have built homes at the foot of glaciers at the source of the Yangtze.
Jianggudiru glacier, 6,542 meters above sea level, is one of the largest glaciers at the source of the Yangtze. It started to recede in the 1970s. The pace quickened since then, at up to 6 meters a year, said Pu Jianchen, researcher of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“The receding glacier is direct evidence of global climate change. Although in the short term run-off from glaciers will swell rivers and it may seem a good thing, in the long term it may adversely impact rivers, and lead to desertification,” Pu said.
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