Climate and Land cover changes and their impacts on the hydrology over the Tibetan Plateau

Prof. Cuo LAN
Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences

15:30, 9 July, 2019
3#1118

Abstract
As a source region of Asia’s largest rivers, the Tibetan Plateau is undergoing both climate and land cover changes. The changes will affect the hydrological processes over the Tibetan Plateau. This study uses both modeling approach and observation data to investigate the changes in the entire region as well as selected sub-regions and basins. The impacts of the changes on the hydrology are examined in two river basins: the Yellow River and the Yaluzangbu River. The study shows that that both air and ground temperatures are warming prevailingly which resulted in the degradation of frozen soil, snow and glacier, whereas precipitation change is spatially heterogeneous. Both climate change and human activities have caused land cover change, reflected from vegetation coverage change and residential area expansion. However, the impacts of changes are spatiotemporally specific and are not homogeneous in the Yellow River and the Yaluzangbu River.