The Tibetan Plateau, known as the “Asian Water Tower (AWT)”, or “the Third Pole”, is the highest and largest plateau of the world. The Asian Monsoon system, closely tied to the uplift history of the plateau, plays a key role in global climate changes. The spatially heterogeneous characteristics of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau are attributed to different monsoon circulation patterns and the relationship with the westerlies in the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere. The modern and past complex hydrology, weather and climate on the Tibetan Plateau is investigated to better understand potential consequences of climate change not only in regions downstream of the plateau, but also at high altitude itself where natural hazards such as landslides, glacial outburst floods or precipitation-controlled flash floods are increasing threats of local communities and ecosystems.
The envisaged Research Topic assembles records of environmental and climate change on the Tibetan Plateau based on studies of lake sediments and associated features with the aim to better understand the plateau’s role as key region of global climate change in the past, at present and in the future. Depending on the location, catchment characteristics and regional controls, lake records from the Tibetan Plateau represent excellent archives of the local environmental history and regional changes of the East Asian Summer Monsoon, the Indian Summer Monsoon, and the westerlies.
We invite contributions on:
• Lake-sediment records and related archives of environmental and climate change, including field and remote-sensing based studies of exposed lake terraces and ancient shorelines.
• Robust chronological control of lake records based on techniques such as radiocarbon or OSL dating, measurements of cosmogenic nuclides or palaeomagnetic secular variations, allowing the comparison of derived inferences across the Tibetan Plateau and the assessment of leads and lags in the climate-environment relationship.
• Original, multi-proxy lake studies including standard and innovative sedimentological, geochemical and geophysical approaches.
The Tibetan Plateau, known as the “Asian Water Tower (AWT)”, or “the Third Pole”, is the highest and largest plateau of the world. The Asian Monsoon system, closely tied to the uplift history of the plateau, plays a key role in global climate changes. The spatially heterogeneous characteristics of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau are attributed to different monsoon circulation patterns and the relationship with the westerlies in the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere. The modern and past complex hydrology, weather and climate on the Tibetan Plateau is investigated to better understand potential consequences of climate change not only in regions downstream of the plateau, but also at high altitude itself where natural hazards such as landslides, glacial outburst floods or precipitation-controlled flash floods are increasing threats of local communities and ecosystems.
The envisaged Research Topic assembles records of environmental and climate change on the Tibetan Plateau based on studies of lake sediments and associated features with the aim to better understand the plateau’s role as key region of global climate change in the past, at present and in the future. Depending on the location, catchment characteristics and regional controls, lake records from the Tibetan Plateau represent excellent archives of the local environmental history and regional changes of the East Asian Summer Monsoon, the Indian Summer Monsoon, and the westerlies.
We invite contributions on:
• Lake-sediment records and related archives of environmental and climate change, including field and remote-sensing based studies of exposed lake terraces and ancient shorelines.
• Robust chronological control of lake records based on techniques such as radiocarbon or OSL dating, measurements of cosmogenic nuclides or palaeomagnetic secular variations, allowing the comparison of derived inferences across the Tibetan Plateau and the assessment of leads and lags in the climate-environment relationship.
• Original, multi-proxy lake studies including standard and innovative sedimentological, geochemical and geophysical approaches.
