{"title":"The influence of cloud cover on elevation-dependent warming over the Tibetan Plateau from 1984 to 2022","authors":"Yuqing Wu , Jing Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.atmosres.2025.108188","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) have been increasing over the past 50 years, with the warming trend accelerating from +0.16 °C/decade between the mid-1980s and 1990s to +0.36 °C/decade from 2000 to 2022. However, the elevation-dependent warming (EDW) on the TP remains controversial, and the driving mechanisms are poorly understood. Utilizing the ERA5-Land dataset, we investigate EDW patterns across both the Endorheic and Exorheic basins on the TP, focusing on cloud cover characteristics and quantifying the influences of clouds at different levels on EDW through the Random Forest analysis. Our findings reveal distinct EDW patterns, with more pronounced warming occurring at night. Between 2000 and 2022, changes in cloud cover, particularly the increase in high cloud cover at night and middle cloud cover during the day, played a crucial role in modulating temperature trends. The effect of diurnal net cloud radiative forcing (CRF) from 1984 to 2022 is characterized by daytime heating in the western TP, cooling in the eastern TP, and uniform nighttime warming across the TP. The reduction in middle and high cloud cover from 1984 to 2000 was associated with overall warming, while from 2000 to 2022, albedo diminished from middle clouds and increased longwave radiation from high clouds contributed to continued warming, particularly at higher elevations. These findings highlight the role of CRF in amplifying EDW and emphasize the significance of cloud radiative processes in driving regional warming. The study provides valuable insights into the mechanism underlying the accelerated warming on the TP</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8600,"journal":{"name":"Atmospheric Research","volume":"323 ","pages":"Article 108188"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Atmospheric Research","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169809525002807","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"METEOROLOGY & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) have been increasing over the past 50 years, with the warming trend accelerating from +0.16 °C/decade between the mid-1980s and 1990s to +0.36 °C/decade from 2000 to 2022. However, the elevation-dependent warming (EDW) on the TP remains controversial, and the driving mechanisms are poorly understood. Utilizing the ERA5-Land dataset, we investigate EDW patterns across both the Endorheic and Exorheic basins on the TP, focusing on cloud cover characteristics and quantifying the influences of clouds at different levels on EDW through the Random Forest analysis. Our findings reveal distinct EDW patterns, with more pronounced warming occurring at night. Between 2000 and 2022, changes in cloud cover, particularly the increase in high cloud cover at night and middle cloud cover during the day, played a crucial role in modulating temperature trends. The effect of diurnal net cloud radiative forcing (CRF) from 1984 to 2022 is characterized by daytime heating in the western TP, cooling in the eastern TP, and uniform nighttime warming across the TP. The reduction in middle and high cloud cover from 1984 to 2000 was associated with overall warming, while from 2000 to 2022, albedo diminished from middle clouds and increased longwave radiation from high clouds contributed to continued warming, particularly at higher elevations. These findings highlight the role of CRF in amplifying EDW and emphasize the significance of cloud radiative processes in driving regional warming. The study provides valuable insights into the mechanism underlying the accelerated warming on the TP
期刊介绍:
The journal publishes scientific papers (research papers, review articles, letters and notes) dealing with the part of the atmosphere where meteorological events occur. Attention is given to all processes extending from the earth surface to the tropopause, but special emphasis continues to be devoted to the physics of clouds, mesoscale meteorology and air pollution, i.e. atmospheric aerosols; microphysical processes; cloud dynamics and thermodynamics; numerical simulation, climatology, climate change and weather modification.