Extreme weather risks rising as Tibetan Plateau gets hotter and wetter, scientists warn
- Researchers say that some areas of the ‘Asian water tower’ will see more than half of their glaciers melting by the end of the century
Scientists have warned that the Tibetan Plateau is becoming warmer and wetter, raising the risk of extreme weather events.
The plateau is sometimes described as the “Asian water tower”, because it is the source of many of the continent’s major rivers including the Indus, Ganges, Mekong, Yangtze and Yellow River.
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The researchers, led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, presented a summary of their findings from ongoing work on Sunday.
The plateau will enter a super warm and humid phase that will see more than half the glacier mass melting in some areas and lake water levels rising by more than 10 metres (33 feet) by the end of the century, according to the researchers.
They said global warming meant that the amount of grassland and forest had increased by 6 and 12 per recent respectively over the last 15 years – but warned that these changes also carried an increased risk of extreme weather events.
Although the increase in vegetation will help prevent desertification, in the long run it will cause a shift in monsoon circulation, resulting in more heavy rainfall during the summer.
