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Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 February 2022) | Viewed by 27157

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Prof. Dr. Yaoming Ma

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Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100101, China
Interests: water cycle; evapotranspiration and evaporation; atmospheric boundary layer; satellite remote sensing application
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Zhongbo Su

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University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Department of Water Resources Hengelosestraat 99, P.O.Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
Interests: spatial hydrology; earth observation; water cycle and climate; land–atmosphere interaction; water resource management
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Prof. Dr. Lei Zhong

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School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Interests: application of remote sensing; energy and water cycle; land-atmosphere interaction; hydrometorology; atmospheric boundary layer process
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As the most prominent and complicated terrain on the globe, the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is often called the “Roof of the World”, “Third Pole” or “Asian Water Tower”. The energy and water cycles in the Third Pole have great impacts on the atmospheric circulation, Asian monsoon system and global climate change. On the other hand, the TP and the surrounding higher elevation area are also experiencing evident and rapid environmental changes under the background of global warming. As the headwater area of major rivers in Asia, the TP’s environmental changes—such as glacial retreat, snow melting, lake expanding and permafrost degradation—pose potential long-term threats to water resources of the local and surrounding regions. To promote quantitative understanding of energy and water cycles of the TP, several field campaigns, including GAME/Tibet, CAMP/Tibet and TORP, have been carried out. A large amount of data have been collected to gain a better understanding of the atmospheric boundary layer structure, turbulent heat fluxes and their coupling with atmospheric circulation and hydrological processes. The focus of this Special Issue is to present recent advances in quantifying land–atmosphere interactions, the water cycle and its components, energy balance components, climate change and hydrological feedbacks by in-situ measurements, remote sensing or numerical modelling approaches in the “Third Pole” region.

Prof. Dr. Yaoming Ma
Prof. Dr. Zhongbo Su
Prof. Dr. Lei Zhong
Guest Editors

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Keywords

water cycle
evapotranspiration
soil moisture
precipitation
land surface characteristic parameters
radiation fluxes and land surface heat fluxes
atmospheric boundary layer
climate change
remote sensing
numerical modelling

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 166 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole

by Yaoming Ma, Lei Zhong and Zhongbo Su

Water 2022, 14(7), 1175; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14071175 - 06 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1686

Abstract

The energy and water cycles in the Third Pole have great impacts on the atmospheric circulation, Asian monsoon system and global climate change [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole)

Research

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19 pages, 5180 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Temporal and Spatial Differences and Driving Factors of Evapotranspiration from Terrestrial Ecosystems of the Qinghai Province in the Past 20 Years

by Zhiyuan Song, Qi Feng, Ziyi Gao, Shengkui Cao, Guangchao Cao and Zhigang Wang

Water 2022, 14(4), 536; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14040536 - 11 Feb 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2391

Abstract

As the “Asian Water Tower”, understanding the hydrological cycles in Qinghai Province and its interior is critical to the security of terrestrial ecosystems. Based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)16 evapotranspiration (ET) remote sensing data, we used least squares regression, correlation analysis, and t-test to determine the temporal and spatial changes and trends of ET in Qinghai Province and its five ecological functional regions, located on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (Plateau) Western China from 2000 to 2020. In addition, we discussed the main factors affecting the changes of ET in different regions of Qinghai Province over the first two decades of the 21st century along spatial as well as altitudinal gradients. The results showed that: (1) the average annual ET in Qinghai Province was 496.56 mm/a, the highest ET value appeared in the southeast of the study area (684.08 mm/a), and the lowest ET value appeared in the Qaidam region in the northwest (110.49 mm/a); (2) the annual ET showed an increasing trend with a rate of 3.71 mm/a (p < 0.01), the place where ET decreased most was in the Three-River Source region (−8–0 mm/a) in the southwest of the study area, and the ET increased the most in the Hehuang region in the east of the study area (9–34 mm/a); (3) temperature (T) was the dominant ET change factor in Qinghai Province, accounting for about 65.27% of the region, followed by the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and precipitation (P) for 62.52% and 55.41%, respectively; and (4) ET increased significantly by 2.84 mm/100 m with increasing altitude. The dominant factors changed from P to NDVI and T as the altitude increased. The research is of practical value for gaining insight into the regional water cycle process on the Plateau under climate change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole)

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21 pages, 6300 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Simulating the Evolution of Da Anglong Glacier, Western Tibetan Plateau over the 21st Century

by Wenqing Zhao, Liyun Zhao, Lide Tian, Michael Wolovick and John C. Moore

Water 2022, 14(2), 271; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14020271 - 17 Jan 2022

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 1733

Abstract

We apply a three-dimensional (3D) full-Stokes model to simulate the evolution of Da Anglong Glacier, a large glacier in the western Tibetan Plateau from the year 2016 to 2098, using projected temperatures and precipitations from the 25-km-resolution RegCM4 nested within three Earth System Models (ESM) simulating the RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios. The surface mass balance (SMB) is estimated by the degree-day method using a quadratic elevation-dependent precipitation gradient. A geothermal flux of 60 mW m^-2 produces a better fit to measured surface velocity than lower heat fluxes and represents a new datum in this region of sparse heat flux observations. The ensemble mean simulated glacier volume loss during 2016–2098 amounts to 38% of the glacier volume in the year 2016 under RCP2.6 and 83% under RCP8.5. Simulation from 2016 to 2098 without ice dynamics leads to an underestimation of ice loss of 22–27% under RCP2.6 and 16–24% under RCP8.5, showing that ice dynamics play an important amplifying factor in ice loss for this glacier, unlike for small Tibetan glaciers where SMB dominates glacier change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole)

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22 pages, 9859 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Characteristics of the Water Vapor Transport in the Canyon Area of the Southeastern Tibetan Plateau

by Maoshan Li, Lingzhi Wang, Na Chang, Ming Gong, Yaoming Ma, Yaoxian Yang, Xuelong Chen, Cunbo Han and Fanglin Sun

Water 2021, 13(24), 3620; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13243620 - 16 Dec 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2471

Abstract

Changes in the surface fluxes cause changes in the annular flow field over a region, and they affect the transport of water vapor. To study the influence of the changes in the surface flux on the water vapor transport in the upper layer in the canyon area of southeastern Tibet, in this study, the water vapor transport characteristics were analyzed using the HYSPLIT_v4 backward trajectory model at Danka and Motuo stations in the canyons in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau from November 2018 to October 2019. Then, using ERA-5 reanalysis data from 1989 to 2019 and the characteristics of the high-altitude water vapor transportation, the impact of the surface flux changes on the water vapor transportation was analyzed using singular value decomposition (SVD). The results show that the main sources of the water vapor in the study area were from the west and southwest during the non-Asian monsoon (non-AMS), while there was mainly southwest air flow and a small amount of southeast air flow in the lower layer during the Asian monsoon (AMS) at the stations in southeastern Tibet. The water vapor transmission channel of the westward airflow is higher than 3000 m, and the water vapor transmission channel of the southwestward and southeastward airflow is about 2000 m. The sensible heat and latent heat are negatively correlated with water vapor flux divergence. The southwest boundary of southeastern Tibet is a key area affecting water vapor flux divergence. When the sensible heat and latent heat exhibit downward trends during the non-Asian monsoon season, the eastward water vapor flux exhibits an upward trend. During the Asian monsoon season, when the sensible heat and latent heat in southeastern Tibet increase as a whole, the eastward water vapor flux in the total-column of southeastern Tibet increases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole)

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23 pages, 5108 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Fully Coupled Hydrology-Atmosphere Processes on Atmosphere Conditions: Investigating the Performance of the WRF-Hydro Model in the Three River Source Region on the Tibetan Plateau, China

by Guangwei Li, Xianhong Meng, Eleanor Blyth, Hao Chen, Lele Shu, Zhaoguo Li, Lin Zhao and Yingsai Ma

Water 2021, 13(23), 3409; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13233409 - 02 Dec 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2406

Abstract

The newly developed WRF-Hydro model is a fully coupled atmospheric and hydrological processes model suitable for studying the intertwined atmospheric hydrological processes. This study utilizes the WRF-Hydro system on the Three-River source region. The Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency for the runoff simulation is 0.55 compared against the observed daily discharge amount of three stations. The coupled WRF-Hydro simulations are better than WRF in terms of six ground meteorological elements and turbulent heat flux, compared to the data from 14 meteorological stations located in the plateau residential area and two flux stations located around the lake. Although WRF-Hydro overestimates soil moisture, higher anomaly correlation coefficient scores (0.955 versus 0.941) were achieved. The time series of the basin average demonstrates that the hydrological module of WRF-hydro functions during the unfrozen period. The rainfall intensity and frequency simulated by WRF-Hydro are closer to global precipitation mission (GPM) data, attributed to higher convective available potential energy (CAPE) simulated by WRF-Hydro. The results emphasized the necessity of a fully coupled atmospheric-hydrological model when investigating land-atmosphere interactions on a complex topography and hydrology region. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole)

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26 pages, 7652 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Analysis of the Radiation Fluxes over Complex Surfaces on the Tibetan Plateau

by Chunxiao Wang, Yaoming Ma, Binbin Wang, Weiqiang Ma, Xuelong Chen and Cunbo Han

Water 2021, 13(21), 3084; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13213084 - 03 Nov 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2234

Abstract

Analysis of long-term, ground-based observation data on the Tibetan Plateau help to enhance our understanding of land-atmosphere interactions and their influence on weather and climate in this region. In this paper, the daily, monthly, and annual averages of radiative fluxes, surface albedo, surface temperature, and air temperature were calculated for the period of 2006 to 2019 at six research stations on the Tibetan Plateau. The surface energy balance characteristics of these six stations, which include alpine meadow, alpine desert, and alpine steppe, were then compared. The downward shortwave radiation at stations BJ, QOMS, and NAMORS was found to decrease during the study period, due to increasing cloudiness. Meanwhile, the upward shortwave radiation and surface albedo at all stations were found to have decreased overall. Downward longwave radiation, upward longwave radiation, net radiation, surface temperature, and air temperature showed increasing trends on inter-annual time scales at most stations. Downward shortwave radiation was maximum in spring at BJ, QOMS, NADORS, and NAMORS, due to the influence of the summer monsoon. Upward shortwave radiation peaked in October and November due to the greater snow cover. BJ, QOMS, NADORS, and NAMORS showed strong sensible heat fluxes in the spring while MAWORS showed strong sensible heat fluxes in the summer. The monthly and diurnal variations of surface albedo at each station were “U” shaped. The diurnal variability of downward longwave radiation at each station was small, ranging from 220 to 295 W·m⁻².The diurnal variation in surface temperature at each station slightly lagged behind changes in downward shortwave radiation, and the air temperature, in turn, slightly lagged behind the surface temperature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole)

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13 pages, 3206 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Vertical Motion of Air over the Indian Ocean and the Climate in East Asia

by Rongxiang Tian, Yaoming Ma and Weiqiang Ma

Water 2021, 13(19), 2641; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13192641 - 25 Sep 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1619

Abstract

The Indian Ocean and East Asia are the most famous monsoonal regions, and the climate of East Asia is affected by the change in wind direction due to monsoons. The vertical motion of the atmosphere is closely related to the amount of precipitation in whichever particular region. Climate diagnosis and statistical analysis were used to study the vertical motion of air over the Indian Ocean and its relationship with the climate in East Asia. The vertical motion of air over the Indian Ocean had a significant correlation with the climate in China—especially with precipitation in the Tibetan Plateau and the Yangtze River Basin—as a result of the interaction of the vertical motion of air from the Indian Ocean, the Tibetan Plateau and the subpolar region in the Northern Hemisphere. The vertical motion over the Indian Ocean was weakened from 1981 to 2010, except at a height of 500 hPa in winter. The vertical motion of air over the Indian Ocean had a period of 7–9 years in summer and 9–12 years in winter. An ascending motion was dominant over most of the Indian Ocean throughout the year and the central axis of the ascending motion changed from a clockwise rotation from winter to summer to a counterclockwise rotation from summer to winter as a result of the monsoonal circulation over the Indian Ocean. These results will provide a theoretical reference for a comprehensive understanding of the climate in Asia and contribute to work on climate prediction in these regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole)

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19 pages, 1886 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Variation Characteristics of Summer Water Vapor Budget and Its Relationship with the Precipitation over the Sichuan Basin

by Dongmei Qi, Yueqing Li and Changyan Zhou

Water 2021, 13(18), 2533; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13182533 - 15 Sep 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2329

Abstract

Based on the daily precipitation data from the meteorological stations in Sichuan and the monthly average ERA-Interim reanalysis data from 1979 to 2016, the variation characteristics of summer water vapor budget in the Sichuan Basin and its relationship with precipitation are discussed in this study. The results show that, in summer, the water vapor in the Sichuan Basin and its four sub-basins flows in from the southern and western boundaries and flows out through the eastern and northern boundaries, and the basin is obviously a water vapor sink. From 1979 to 2016, the water vapor inflow from the southern and western boundaries significantly decreased, as well as the water vapor outflow through the eastern boundary. The summer precipitation in the Sichuan Basin is significantly positively correlated with the water vapor inflow at the southern boundary and net water vapor budget of the basin in the same period, and it is negatively correlated with the water vapor outflow at the northern boundary. The southern and northern boundaries are the two most important boundaries for the summer precipitation in the Sichuan Basin. Additionally, this study reveals that, under the multi-scale topography on the east side of the Tibet Plateau, the spatio-temporal distribution of precipitation in the Sichuan Basin results from the interactions between the unique topography of the Sichuan Basin and the different modes of water-vapor transport from low latitudes. The atmospheric circulation over the key area of air–sea interaction in the tropical region and its accompanying systems, as well as the anomalies of regional circulations and water vapor transport over the eastern China and Sichuan Basin, are the main reasons for the variation in summer precipitation in the Sichuan Basin. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole)

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21 pages, 3079 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Detecting and Attributing Evapotranspiration Deviations Using Dynamical Downscaling and Convection-Permitting Modeling over the Tibetan Plateau

by Jingyu Dan, Yanhong Gao and Meng Zhang

Water 2021, 13(15), 2096; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13152096 - 30 Jul 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2390

Abstract

Terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) exerts considerable impacts on the local climate and the water cycle. However, the high-altitude, mountainous areas over the TP pose a challenge for field observations. To finely capture its ET characteristics, we employed dynamical downscaling modeling (DDM) with a 28 km resolution and convection-permitting modeling (CPM) with a 4 km resolution in a normal climatology year, 2014. The benchmark data were the surface energy balance–based global land ET dataset (EB). Other compared data included the Global Land-Surface Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) and two reanalysis datasets: ERA-Interim and ERA5. Results showed that EB exhibits a gradient from the southeastern to northwestern TP, which is in line with the precipitation pattern. GLDAS generally reproduces the annual mean magnitude and pattern but poorly represents the seasonal variations. DDM and CPM perform well in the monsoon season but underestimate ET in the non-monsoon season. The two reanalysis datasets greatly overestimate the ET in the monsoon season, but ERA-Interim performs well in the non-monsoon season. All five datasets underestimate the ET over tundra and snow/ice areas, both in the annual and seasonal means. ET deviations are dominated by precipitation deviations in the monsoon season and by surface net radiation deviations in the non-monsoon season. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole)

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22 pages, 5835 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

The Impact of Climate Warming on Lake Surface Heat Exchange and Ice Phenology of Different Types of Lakes on the Tibetan Plateau

by Jiahe Lang, Yaoming Ma, Zhaoguo Li and Dongsheng Su

Water 2021, 13(5), 634; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13050634 - 27 Feb 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2490

Abstract

Increasing air temperature is a significant feature of climate warming, and is cause for some concern, particularly on the Tibetan Plateau (TP). A lack of observations means that the impact of rising air temperatures on TP lakes has received little attention. Lake surfaces play a unique role in determining local and regional climate. This study analyzed the effect of increasing air temperature on lake surface temperature (LST), latent heat flux (LE), sensible heat flux (H), and ice phenology at Lake Nam Co and Lake Ngoring, which have mean depths of approximately 40 m and 25 m, respectively, and are in the central and eastern TP, respectively. The variables were simulated using an adjusted Fresh-water Lake (FLake) model (FLake_α_ice = 0.15). The simulated results were evaluated against in situ observations of LST, LE and H, and against LST data derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for 2015 to 2016. The simulations show that when the air temperature increases, LST increases, and the rate of increase is greater in winter than in summer; annual LE increases; H and ice thickness decrease; ice freeze-up date is delayed; and the break-up date advances. The changes in the variables in response to the temperature increases are similar at the two lakes from August to December, but are significantly different from December to July. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole)

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Review

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11 pages, 11469 KiB

Open AccessReview

Review on Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances’ (PFASs’) Pollution Characteristics and Possible Sources in Surface Water and Precipitation of China

by Fan Wang, Yiru Zhuang, Bingqi Dong and Jing Wu

Water 2022, 14(5), 812; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14050812 - 04 Mar 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3850

Abstract

In recent years, due to the production and use of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), the research on the pollution characteristics and sources of PFASs in surface water and precipitation in China has attracted increasing attention. In this study, the related published articles with sampling years from 2010 to 2020 were reviewed, and the concentration levels, composition characteristics and possible sources of PFASs in surface water (rivers and lakes) and precipitation in China were summarized, including those in the Tibetan Plateau region. The results show that the concentrations of PFASs in surface water in different areas of China vary greatly, ranging from 0.775 to 1.06 × 10⁶ ng/L. The production processes of fluorinated manufacturing facilities (FMFs) and sewage discharge from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPS) were the main sources of PFASs in surface water in China, and the concentrations of PFASs in water flowing through cities with high urbanization increased significantly compared with those before water flowed through cities with high urbanization. The compositions of PFASs in surface water gradually changed from long-chain PFASs, such as per-fluoro-octanoic acid (PFOA) and per-fluoro-octanesulfonic acid (PFOS) to short-chain PFASs, such as per-fluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), per-fluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) and per-fluoropentanoic acid (PFPeA). The concentrations of PFASs in precipitation in China ranged from 4.2 to 191 ng/L, which were lower than those of surface water. The precipitation concentrations were relatively high around a fluorination factory and in areas with high urbanization levels. PFASs were detected in the surface water and precipitation in the Tibetan Plateau (TP), which is the global “roof of the world”, but the concentrations were low (0.115–6.34 ng/L and 0.115–1.24 ng/L, respectively). Local human activities and surface runoff were the main sources of PFASs in the surface water of the Tibetan Plateau. In addition, under the influence of the Southeast Asian monsoon in summers, marine aerosols from the Indian Ocean and air pollutants from human activities in Southeast Asia and South Asia will also enter the water bodies through dry and wet depositions. With the melting of glaciers caused by global warming, the concentration of PFASs in the surface water of the TP was higher than that before the melting of glaciers flowed into the surface water of the TP. Generally, this study summarized the existing research progress of PFAS studies on surface water and precipitation in China and identified the research gaps, which deepened the researchers’ understanding of this field and provided scientific support for related research in the future. The concentrations of PFASs in the water bodies after flowing through FMFs were significantly higher than those before water flowed through FMFs, so the discharge of the FMF production process was one of the main sources of PFASs in surface water. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Water Cycles in the Third Pole)

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