FastFind »   Lastname: doi:10.1029/ Year: Advanced Search  

AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • land-ocean-atmosphere interaction
  • global water cycle
  • climate change

Index Terms

  • Global Change: Atmosphere
  • Global Change: Water cycles
  • Global Change: Land/atmosphere interactions
  • Atmospheric Processes: Climate change and variability
  • Hydrology: Hydroclimatology

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 35, L20815, 5 PP., 2008
doi:10.1029/2008GL035867

World water tower: An atmospheric perspective

Xiangde Xu

State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China

Chungu Lu

Earth System Research Laboratory, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Xiaohui Shi

State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China

Shouting Gao

Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China

A large amount of water is stored in the world's highest and largest plateau, the Tibetan Plateau, in the forms of glaciers, snowpacks, lakes, and rivers. It is vital to understand where these waters come from and whether the supply to these water resources has been experiencing any changes during recent global warming. Here we show the maintenance of water content in the atmosphere over the Tibetan Plateau, the atmospheric circulations and transports of water vapor to this part of the world, and the trend of the water vapor supply. The Tibetan Plateau serves as a role of “the world water tower”, and its land-ocean-atmosphere interaction provides a profound impact on the global natural and climate environment. The analyses of a half-century time series of atmospheric water vapor, precipitation, and surface temperature indicate that the atmospheric supply to this water tower presents an increasing trend under recent global warming condition.

Received 31 August 2008; accepted 25 September 2008; published 24 October 2008.

Citation: Xu, X., C. Lu, X. Shi, and S. Gao (2008), World water tower: An atmospheric perspective, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L20815, doi:10.1029/2008GL035867.

Cited By

Please wait one moment ...