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Title: Recent Third Pole's rapid warming accompanies cryospheric melt and water cycle intensification and interactions between monsoon and environment: Multidisciplinary approach with observation, modeling and analysis

Journal Article · · Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
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  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences
  2. California State University, Los Angeles
  3. Goteborgs University
  4. Ohio State University
  5. International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management
  6. Laboratory for Atmospheres, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
  7. BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)
  8. Senckenberg Research Center for Nature
  9. Fudan University
  10. University of California, Santa Barbara
  11. University of California, Los Angeles
  12. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
  13. Peking University
  14. Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
  15. University of Tsukuba
  16. Nanjing University
  17. San Diego State University
  18. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-information and Earth Observation (ITC)
  19. University Coporation for Atmospheric Research
  20. University of Maryland at College Park
  21. Texas A & M University
  22. Tsinghua University
  23. Environment and Climate Changes
  24. Chengdun Institute of Biology
  25. Chengdu University of Information Technology
  26. Oak Ridge National Laboratory
+ Show Author Affiliations

The Third Pole (TP) is experiencing rapid warming and is currently in its warmest period in the past 2000 years. This paper reviews the latest development in multi-disciplinary TP research associated with this warming. The rapid warming facilitates intense and broad glacier melt over most of TP, although some glaciers in the northwest are advancing. By heating the atmosphere and reducing snow/ice albedo, aerosols also contribute to the glaciers melting. Glacier melt is accompanied by lake expansion and intensification of the water cycle over the TP. Precipitation has increased over the eastern and northwestern TP. Meanwhile, the TP is greening and most regions are experiencing advancing phenological trends although over the southwest there is a spring phenological delay mainly in response to the recent decline in spring precipitation. Atmospheric and terrestrial thermal and dynamical processes over the TP affect the Asian monsoon at different scales. Recent evidence indicates substantial roles that Meso-scale Convective Systems play in TP's precipitation as well as an association between soil moisture anomalies in TP and the Indian monsoon. Moreover, an increase in geo-hazard events has been associated with recent environmental changes, some of which have had catastrophic consequences caused by glacial lake outbursts and landslides. Active debris flows are growing in both frequency of occurrences and spatial scale. Meanwhile, new types of disasters, such as the twin ice avalanches in Ali in 2016, are now appearing in the region. Adaptation and mitigation measures should be taken to help societies' preparation for future environmental challenges. Some key issues for future TP studies are also discussed.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1543293
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-138202
Journal Information:
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 100, Issue 3
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

Third Pole's rapid warming
cryospheric melt