SCIENTIA GEOGRAPHICA SINICA ›› 2010, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (1): 113-118.doi: 10.13249/j.cnki.sgs.2010.01.113

• 论文 • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Altitudinal Distribution of Air Temperature over a Southern Slope of Nyainqentanglha Mountains, Tibetan Plateau

XIE Jian1,2, LIU Jing-shi1, DU Ming-yuan3, WANG Zhong-yan1,2   

  1. 1. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085;
    2. Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049;
    3. Department of Agro-Meteorology, National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, 30500-53, Tsukuba, Japan
  • Received:2009-03-16 Revised:2009-07-11 Online:2010-01-20 Published:2010-01-20

Abstract: Altitudinal and temporal distribution of air temperature were analyzed, using an original data set, spanning from 1 Aug., 2006 to 31 Jul., 2007 from 9 automated weather stations set up along an altitudinal gradient from 4 300 to 5 500 m a.s.l., at a southern slope of Nyainqentanglha Mountains, Tibetan Plateau. Air temperature inversion was found typically during October to the following April. The mean perennial values of annually and monthly mean air temperature were estimated for various observational altitudes at the studied slope, based on the significant correlation between air temperatures at the observed slope and Damxung Weather Station, which has 44 years of continual meteorological record since 1963. According to the estimated mean perennial air temperature, the lower limit of the alpine permafrost was estimated at about 5 100 m a.s.l., which is 200 m higher than the previous value proposed in the frozen soil in China.

CLC Number: 

  • P461+3