Climatic Variations of Temperature and Precipitation in the Yamzho Yumco Lake Basin of Tibet from 1961 to 2005

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  • 1. The Climatic Center of Tibet, Lhasa 850001, China;
    2. Lhasa Meteorological Bureau, Lhasa 850001, China;
    3. Water Resources Survey and Hydrology Bureau of Tibet, Lhasa 850000, China;
    4. Meteorological Information & Network Center of Tibet, Lhasa 850001, China

Received date: 2008-01-13

  Revised date: 2008-07-20

  Online published: 2008-11-25

Supported by

National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.40565002

Abstract

The interannual, interdecadal variations and anomalous years of the annual and seasonal mean temperature and precipitation are investigated in the context of the monthly data at 9 meteorological and hydrological stations in the Yamzho Yumco Lake basin of Tibet from 1961 to 2005 by using modern statistical diagnostic methods such as the linear trend, and the relationship between lake level and precipitation is discussed. The results show that the annual temperature presented a significant increasing trend and the rate of increase is about 0.25 oC/10a during recent 46 years, indicating that the warming trend is obvious in autumn and winter. In recent 25 years (1981-2005), the precipitation presents a decreasing trend in winter, while the increasing trend is apparent in other seasons with a rate of (11.4-30.0) mm/10a, especially in summer. Finally, the annual precipitation shows an obviously increasing trend and the rate is 54.2 mm/10a. In terms of interdecadal variations, the mean temperature increases apparently in most seasons, except in summer. The summer precipitation is less in the 1980s, more in the other three decades. On the contrary, in winter the precipitation is more in the 1980s, less in the other three decades. Also, the warm anomalous years of annual mean temperature occurred three times in the end of the 1990s and the early 2100s. The more precipitation anomalous years occurred in the end of the 1960s and the early 1970s. Since generation of electricity with the water of the Yamzho Yumco Lake in 1997, the trend of annual precipitation has increased. The mean precipitation is about 409.7 mm in the basin, which is higher than the balanced rainfall, and presents an obvious increasing trend of the lake level. The water level rise is directly correlated with precipitation increase and sunshine decrease, while the apparent rise of temperature and the increase of snowmelt are also important factors.

Cite this article

DU Jun, HU Jun, TANG Shujun, BAO Jianhua, LHAK Pa . Climatic Variations of Temperature and Precipitation in the Yamzho Yumco Lake Basin of Tibet from 1961 to 2005[J]. Acta Geographica Sinica, 2008 , 63(11) : 1160 -1168 . DOI: 10.11821/xb200811005

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