Wang, X., Schmidt, B., Otto, M., Ehlers, T. A. , Mutz, S. G. , Botsyun, S. and Scherer, D. (2021) Sensitivity of water balance in the Qaidam Basin to the mid‐Pliocene climate. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 126(16), e2020JD033965. (doi: 10.1029/2020jd033965)
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Abstract
The Qaidam Basin (QB) in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau held a megalake system during the Pliocene. Today, the lower elevations in the basin are hyperarid. To understand to what extent the climate plays a role in the maintenance of the megalake system during the Pliocene, we applied the Weather Research and Forecasting model for dynamical downscaling of ECHAM5 global climate simulations for the present day and the mid-Pliocene. When imposing the mid-Pliocene climate on the QB with its modern land surface settings, the annual water balance (urn:x-wiley:2169897X:media:jgrd57206:jgrd57206-math-0001), that is, the change in terrestrial water storage within the QB, increases. This positive imbalance of urn:x-wiley:2169897X:media:jgrd57206:jgrd57206-math-0002 induced solely by the changes in the large-scale climate state would lead to a readjustment of lake extent, until a new equilibrium state is reached, where loss due to evaporation over lake areas compensates for the input by runoff and precipitation. Atmospheric water transport (AWT) analysis at each border of the QB reveals that this imbalance of urn:x-wiley:2169897X:media:jgrd57206:jgrd57206-math-0003 is caused by stronger moisture influx across the western border in winter, spring, and autumn and weaker moisture out-flux across the eastern border in summer. These changes in AWT are associated with the strengthening of the midlatitude westerlies in all seasons, except for summer, and the intensification of the East Asian Summer Monsoon. Given that the mid-Pliocene climate is an analog to the projected warm climate of the near future, our study contributes to a better understanding of climate change impacts in central Asia.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) program “Central Asia – Monsoon Dynamics and Geo-Ecosystems II” (CAME II) within Q-TiP project “Quaternary Tipping Points of Lake Systems in the Arid Zone of Central Asia” (code 03G08063C and 03G08063A to D. Scherer and to T. A. Ehlers, respectively). This open-access publication was funded by Technische Universität Berlin. |
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Ehlers, Professor Todd A. and Mutz, Dr Rer Nat Sebastian |
| Authors: | Wang, X., Schmidt, B., Otto, M., Ehlers, T. A., Mutz, S. G., Botsyun, S., and Scherer, D. |
| College/School: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences |
| Journal Name: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
| Publisher: | American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
| ISSN: | 2169-897X |
| ISSN (Online): | 2169-8996 |
| Published Online: | 17 July 2021 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2021. The Authors |
| First Published: | First published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 126(16):e2020JD033965 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons license |
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