Aerosol forcing regulating recent decadal change of summer water vapor budget over the Tibetan Plateau
Abstract The Tibetan Plateau (TP), known as the Asian water tower, has been getting wetter since the 1970s. However, the primary drivers behind this phenomenon are still highly controversial. Here, we isolate the impacts of greenhouse gases (GHG), aerosols, natural forcings and internal climate vari...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2024-03-01
|
| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46635-8 |
| _version_ | 1797259152687366144 |
|---|---|
| author | Zhili Wang Yadong Lei Huizheng Che Bo Wu Xiaoye Zhang |
| author_facet | Zhili Wang Yadong Lei Huizheng Che Bo Wu Xiaoye Zhang |
| author_sort | Zhili Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The Tibetan Plateau (TP), known as the Asian water tower, has been getting wetter since the 1970s. However, the primary drivers behind this phenomenon are still highly controversial. Here, we isolate the impacts of greenhouse gases (GHG), aerosols, natural forcings and internal climate variability on the decadal change of summer water vapor budget (WVB) over the TP using multi-model ensemble simulations. We show that an anomalous Rossby wave train in the upper troposphere travelling eastward from central Europe and equatorward temperature gradient in eastern China due to the inhomogeneous aerosol forcing in Eurasia jointly contribute to anomalous easterly winds over the eastern TP. Such anomalous easterly winds result in a significant decrease in water vapor export from the eastern boundary of the TP and dominate the enhanced summer WVB over the TP during 1979-2014. Our results highlight that spatial variation of aerosol forcing can be used as an important indicator to project future WVB over the TP. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T23:04:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6ef42cb7ea284ea7917a0e2a76f764de |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T23:04:53Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-6ef42cb7ea284ea7917a0e2a76f764de2024-03-17T12:30:42ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232024-03-011511910.1038/s41467-024-46635-8Aerosol forcing regulating recent decadal change of summer water vapor budget over the Tibetan PlateauZhili Wang0Yadong Lei1Huizheng Che2Bo Wu3Xiaoye Zhang4State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather & Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry of CMA, Chinese Academy of Meteorological SciencesState Key Laboratory of Severe Weather & Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry of CMA, Chinese Academy of Meteorological SciencesState Key Laboratory of Severe Weather & Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry of CMA, Chinese Academy of Meteorological SciencesState Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (LASG), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of SciencesState Key Laboratory of Severe Weather & Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry of CMA, Chinese Academy of Meteorological SciencesAbstract The Tibetan Plateau (TP), known as the Asian water tower, has been getting wetter since the 1970s. However, the primary drivers behind this phenomenon are still highly controversial. Here, we isolate the impacts of greenhouse gases (GHG), aerosols, natural forcings and internal climate variability on the decadal change of summer water vapor budget (WVB) over the TP using multi-model ensemble simulations. We show that an anomalous Rossby wave train in the upper troposphere travelling eastward from central Europe and equatorward temperature gradient in eastern China due to the inhomogeneous aerosol forcing in Eurasia jointly contribute to anomalous easterly winds over the eastern TP. Such anomalous easterly winds result in a significant decrease in water vapor export from the eastern boundary of the TP and dominate the enhanced summer WVB over the TP during 1979-2014. Our results highlight that spatial variation of aerosol forcing can be used as an important indicator to project future WVB over the TP.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46635-8 |
| spellingShingle | Zhili Wang Yadong Lei Huizheng Che Bo Wu Xiaoye Zhang Aerosol forcing regulating recent decadal change of summer water vapor budget over the Tibetan Plateau Nature Communications |
| title | Aerosol forcing regulating recent decadal change of summer water vapor budget over the Tibetan Plateau |
| title_full | Aerosol forcing regulating recent decadal change of summer water vapor budget over the Tibetan Plateau |
| title_fullStr | Aerosol forcing regulating recent decadal change of summer water vapor budget over the Tibetan Plateau |
| title_full_unstemmed | Aerosol forcing regulating recent decadal change of summer water vapor budget over the Tibetan Plateau |
| title_short | Aerosol forcing regulating recent decadal change of summer water vapor budget over the Tibetan Plateau |
| title_sort | aerosol forcing regulating recent decadal change of summer water vapor budget over the tibetan plateau |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46635-8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT zhiliwang aerosolforcingregulatingrecentdecadalchangeofsummerwatervaporbudgetoverthetibetanplateau AT yadonglei aerosolforcingregulatingrecentdecadalchangeofsummerwatervaporbudgetoverthetibetanplateau AT huizhengche aerosolforcingregulatingrecentdecadalchangeofsummerwatervaporbudgetoverthetibetanplateau AT bowu aerosolforcingregulatingrecentdecadalchangeofsummerwatervaporbudgetoverthetibetanplateau AT xiaoyezhang aerosolforcingregulatingrecentdecadalchangeofsummerwatervaporbudgetoverthetibetanplateau |