The height of the Himalaya exceeded a climate tipping point 11 million years ago

The Himalaya hosts some of the world’s richest biodiversity and affects climate globally. However, the environmental impacts, in particular on the Asian monsoon, of a rising Himalaya are still intensely debated. Dated and analyzed proxy-observations, from a location at ~5,800 m elevation on Mt. Shishapangma, central Himalaya, the world’s highest fossil baring site, reveal a lush mid-Miocene forest, where today cool arid conditions persist. Together with data from surrounding regions, a major vegetation transition from mixed forest to alpine meadow occurred on the northern slopes of the Himalaya at approximately 11 million years ago, but why? New high-resolution paleoclimate model simulations show significant climate and vegetation transition occurred when the Himalaya passed through a critical height tipping point of 6,000–6,500 m over by pushing out monsoonal conditions from the Tibetan region, yet this rapid uplift of the Himalaya had little impact on the wider monsoon in Asia, contrary to previous interpretations.