Anthropogenic Influence on the Compound Hot and Dry Event in Summer 2022 in the Tibetan Plateau Based on Statistical Downscaling CMIP6 Models

In the summer of 2022, the Tibetan Plateau experienced a record-breaking compound hot and dry event (CHDE). This study quantifies the contribution of anthropogenic influence to this compound event using a set of high-resolution statistical downscaling results from six CMIP6 models. The Copula function was used to calculate the joint probability of the compound event. The results show that in the summer of 2022, hot conditions in the Tibetan Plateau broke records since 1961, with a return period of 408 years. The dry conditions were also uncommon, with a return period of 47 years. The hot and dry compound event is particularly rare, with a return period of more than 20,000 years. Based on the results from statistical downscaling models, it was found that anthropogenic influence has increased the risks of dry and hot conditions similar to those in the Tibetan Plateau in 2022 by factors of 3.3 [1.5, 5.2] and 14 [8.6, 21.2], respectively. Additionally, the risk of compound events has been increased by a factor of 46.7 [26.7, 77.6]. In the future, with the intensification of warm-wet situations on the Tibetan Plateau, the hot conditions similar to 2022 are expected to increase remarkably, with the risk of occurrence rising by factors of 56 [34, 108] and 75 [44, 162] during the periods 2021–2040 and 2051–2070, respectively. Conversely, dry conditions are projected to decrease, with reductions of 0.21 [0.075, 0.46] and 0.51 [0.3, 1.2] times in the two future periods. However, the risk of compound events is expected to increase, with increases of 3.3 [1.5, 5.2] times and 11 [6, 25] times during the two periods. This study is the first to use downscaled simulation to conduct event attribution analysis for the Tibetan Plateau, which can deepen the understanding of the influence of human activities on compound events.