Changes in Tibetan Plateau latitude as an important factor for understanding East Asian climate since the Eocene: A modeling study
- 1Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (zhangran@mail.iap.ac.cn)
- 2Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement/IPSL, Paris, France
- 3Department of Atmospheric Science, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
- 4Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
Previous climate modeling studies suggest that the surface uplift of the Himalaya–Tibetan plateau (TP) is a crucial parameter for the onset and intensification of the East Asian monsoon during the Cenozoic. Most of these studies have only considered the Himalaya–TP in its present location between ∼26°N and ∼40°N despite numerous recent geophysical studies that reconstruct the Himalaya–TP 10° or more of latitude to the south during the early Paleogene. We have designed a series of climate simulations to explore the sensitivity of East Asian climate to the latitude of the Himalaya–TP. Our simulations suggest that the East Asian climate strongly depends on the latitude of the Himalaya–TP. Surface uplift of a proto-Himalaya–TP in the subtropics intensifies aridity throughout inland Asia north of ∼40°N and enhances precipitation over East Asia. In contrast, the rise of a proto-Himalaya–TP in the tropics only slightly intensifies aridity in inland Asia north of ∼40°N, and slightly increases precipitation in East Asia. Importantly, this climate
sensitivity to the latitudinal position of the Himalaya–TP is non-linear, particularly for precipitation across East Asia.
How to cite: Zhang, R., Jiang, D., Ramstein, G., Zhang, Z., Lippert, P. C., and Yu, E.: Changes in Tibetan Plateau latitude as an important factor for understanding East Asian climate since the Eocene: A modeling study , EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-10479, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-10479, 2021.
