Climate‐related trends of actual evapotranspiration over the Tibetan Plateau (1961–2010)

• Published in: International Journal of Climatology
• Main Authors: Zhang, Tangtang, Gebremichael, Mekonnen, Meng, Xianhong, Wen, Jun, Iqbal, Mudassar, Jia, Dongyu, Yu, Ye, Li, Zhenchao
• Other Authors: CAEERI STS Funding, Chinese National Science Foundation Programs, Chinese Academy of Youth Innovation and Promotion, CAS, China Special Fund for Meteorological Research in the Public Interest, Yunnan Power Grid Company Limited, China
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2017
• Subjects: permafrost
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.5350; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjoc.5350; https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.5350

ABSTRACT Actual evapotranspiration (ET a ) is an important component of the hydrologic cycle. In this study, ET a on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is calculated using the advection‐aridity model (AA model) with data from 86 meteorological stations during the period from 1961 to 2010. Results show that the mean annual ET a over the TP was 543 mm and range from 147 to 687 mm, with higher values in the southern part and lower values in the northern part of the TP. During 1961–2010, annual and seasonal mean ET a show statistically increasing trend at most all stations. Annual ET a in area‐averaged over the TP changed +1.01 mm year −1 . Among the four seasons, the changes were most pronounced in March, April, May (MAM) and June, July, August (JJA). ET a variation is significantly and positively correlated with a drought index, defined as the difference between precipitation ( P ) and potential evapotranspiration (ET p ), i.e. P − ET p , showing that the ET a increases over the TP tend to be affected by an increasing soil water supply associated with global warming, such as the retreat of permafrost, increase in P , and decline of ET p .