SCIENTIA GEOGRAPHICA SINICA ›› 2002, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (1): 29-33.doi: 10.13249/j.cnki.sgs.2002.01.29

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The Water Cycles Between Land Surface and Atmosphere in Northern Part of Tibetan Plateau

YANG Mei-xue, YAO Tan-dong, HE Yuan-qing, ZHANG Xiao-jun, MA Yao-ming   

  1. Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000
  • Received:2000-07-31 Revised:2001-02-01 Online:2002-01-20 Published:2002-01-20

Abstract: The water cycle processes in large scale were studied by many scientists. However, the studies of the water cycle processes between land and atmosphere are still not so much. This is especially true on Tibetan Plateau. Because the soil temperature and moisture distribution reflect the soil wet/dry and energy conditions, the variation of the temporal and spatial distributions of the soil moisture and temperature is one of the very important parts in the water cycle processes in land atmosphere system. In order to examine the water and energy cycle processes on Qinghai-Xizang(Tibet) Plateau and their roles in the context of the Asian monsoon system, the GAME (GEWEX Asian Monsoon Experiment) Tibet project was carried out. In this paper, using the high temporal resolution soil moisture and temperature as well as precipitation data of GAME Tibet, the water cycle processes between land surface and atmosphere in the northern part of Tibetan Plateau were analyzed. The results showed that the evaporation from the flat lan surface from July to August is 177.1mm(73.3mm) in the south(north) side of Tanggula Mt., which is 73.2%(57.7%) of the precipitation in the same period. The evaporation processes not only transport much water but also much energy from land surface to atmosphere, which can restrain the rising of the soil temperature. The difference of the evaporation between the two sides of Tanggula Mt. is mainly caused by the difference of precipitation in the two sides.

CLC Number: 

  • S332.2/S152.7