%0 Journal Article %A YIN Yunhe %A WU Shaohong %A ZHAO Dongsheng %A ZHENG Du %A PAN Tao %T Impact of Climate Change on Actual Evapotranspiration on the Tibetan Plateau during 1981-2010 %D 2012 %R 10.11821/xb201211004 %J Acta Geographica Sinica %P 1471-1481 %V 67 %N 11 %X To quantify the impact of climate change on the evapotranspiration process of alpine ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau, we performed a series of simulations with the LPJ dynamic vegetation model and 80 meteorological stations from 1981 to 2010. Changes in actual evapotranspiration and the difference between precipitation and actual evapotranspiration (P-E) on the Tibetan Plateau were analyzed. Over the last 30 years, climate change was characterized by significantly increased temperature, slightly increased precipitation and decreased potential evapotranspiration which was significant before 2000. Actual evapotranspiration had increasing trends in most parts of the Tibetan Plateau, and P-E mainly had decreasing trends in southeastern plateau and increasing trends in northwestern plateau. Descending atmospheric water demand would lead to a decreasing trend in actual evapotranspiration; however, it increased in most regions due to more precipitation. Actual evapotranspiration increased (decreased) in most regions where there was 86% (73%) of increased (decreased) precipitation. %U https://www.geog.com.cn/EN/10.11821/xb201211004