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Tibet Temperature 'Highest Since Records Began' Say Chinese climatologists
Average Tibet temperatures in 2009 increased 1.5C, with rises noted in both winter and summer at 29 monitoring sites
The roof of the world is heating up, according to a report today that said temperatures in Tibet soared last year to the highest level since records began.
Temperatures in Tibet soared last year to the highest level since records began. Photograph: Dan Chung Adding to the fierce international debate about the impact of climate change on the Himalayas, the state-run China Daily noted that the average temperature in Tibet in 2009 was 5.9C, 1.5 degrees higher than "normal".
It did not define "normal", but Chinese climatologists have previously drawn comparisons with an average over several decades.
"Average temperatures recorded at 29 observatories reached record highs," Zhang Hezhen, a Lhasa resident and specialist at the regional weather bureau told the newspaper. "It's high time for all of us to take global warming seriously and think about what we can do to save the earth."
The average rose in both summer and winter, which is unusual as most of mountain warming has previously been observed in the winter.
A monitoring station at the foot of Mt Everest also recorded a new record high temperature of 25.8 degrees, which was 0.7C warmer than the previous peak.
Amid the worst drought in decades, Lhasa experienced its first temperature above 30C since records began in 1961, the report said. Rainfall in Tibet fell to its lowest level in 39 years, affecting nearly 30,000 hectares of cropland - an eighth of Tibet's arable land.
Xiao Ziniu, director general of the National Climate Centre told The Guardian last year that the Tibetan Plateau was particularly sensitive to climate change due to the impact on fragile grasslands, permafrost and glaciers.
Tibet's annual climate report was released at a time of growing international controversy about signs of global warming in the mountain region, where the average altitude is over 4,000m.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was forced to retract a forecast that glaciers in the Himalayas could disappear by 2035. A study by Indian scientists last year found that the rate of glacial retreat was considerably slower than previously estimated. Chinese experts are debating the subject and have proposed cross-border studies, but most published research in the country suggests glaciers are shrinking, raising the risk of flash floods in the short-term and drought in the more distant future.
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Show AllHimalayaa,Alps,Kilimanjaro,Andes and I'm sure there are more.Weather paterns are changing;a northern passage because glaciers are melting,permafrost is melting and all robotic SCOTUS persons and political assholes have got is cap and trade,nuklr power while just salivating about all that new area up north to ruin and trade.Dont know when but it is gearing up for some big changes and 2020 or after is a pipe dream.Tony
We're circling the drain.
The scientific establishment in India is unfortunately full of political appointees who have a vested interest in playing down the retreat of glaciers as it would impinge on various powerful industries -- petrol, motor vehicle, thermal energy production. The science minister himself is a corrupt individual who dismisses climate change, in favour of ever more concentrated industrial development that is displacing poor people all over the country, while stealing their resources and lands for industry to cater to the upper classes. I think most people living in the Himalayas would say differently, that life is becoming increasingly precarious.
Moreover, climate change is not the only threat to the Himalayas. There are a number of localized issues to in the Indian Himalayas, all of which are irrevocably changing the landscape. Dams and roads are coming up everywhere, while the pilgrim trade surges, bringing more despoilation to the hill sides. And it is debatable whether local people are benefitting, or are being encouraged to move out to make way for the inundation of the valleys.
ceti, you're right - climate change is not the only threat to the Himalayas. Beautiful as the hills are, one can clearly see the dangerous levels of encroachment in some areas. I once listened to a speech by Sunderlal Bahuguna - the closest one can come to getting a glimpse of what Gandhi might have been like (anyway, that's my opinion - I'm thoroughly impressed by this great man). This man, who spoke at an international conference, without any notes, was detailing the 'development' that's taking place in the Himalayas, the potential threats, and his own struggle to put a stop to these. (I even managed to shake his hands - as he was waiting for his transportation :) I have lost count of the number of times this man has gone on hunger strike. Tragically, most Indians don't care much for such activists - like Bahuguna, Medha Patkar, and so on - people who are ready to put their own lives on the line.
Alcyon ...thanks for bringing up the name of Sundarlal Bahuguna ! He was the leader of the Chipko Movement ... a good 3 decades before Climate Change became the rallying cry of the Left. He, like many other Indian leaders from the past (not present !!), was a committed environmentalist and the original tree-hugger, who along with Indira Gandhi helped in creating biosphere reserves that preserved rainforests.
You are right in that the new crop of Indian youth don't know much about the old guard. However, Indian youth in larger cities are surprisingly aware of and committed to environmentalism.
Unfortunately, the current consumption patterns of most Nations (especially the West which accounts for 70% of global emmissions), basically renders any efforts by nascent environmentalists ineffective.
Nothing short of revolutionary and radical changes in the standard-of-living in the West is the only answer to global warming induced climate change.
A lot of us in India are shocked with the rapid rise of the new urban culture that seems to imitate the West in every possible way, including mimicking their consumption patterns. Although its limited to the elite sliver in urban centers, the effects are felt far and wide. Needless to say, Gandhian Socialism remains a pipe-dream and mocked at by iPhone wielding neanderthals.
gyptian, glad to know someone is familiar with the work of Sundarlal Bahuguna. From time to time I make comments here about exactly what you say in your last paragraph. Occasionally someone argues with me saying that the West consumes even more. I try to point out that the average consumption (per capita) and greenhouse gas emissions per capita may be very low in India - even compared to China, but there is a big difference in these numbers for the rich and the poor within India. I remember reading an article (or a report?) called "Hiding behind the poor" about this particular aspect - where the urban rich in India are trying to have similar (if not the same) luxuries as in the USA, while millions of Indians are struggling to even get their basic needs met.
I also notice in an online version of an Indian newspaper (Indian Express) there is some criticism about Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC chairman. I am surprised to find so many hostile comments from Indian readers, and I seriously have to wonder if some of them were misled about the issues and implications of climate change by the media. There are people like Vandana Shiva fighting to protect whatever biodiversity there is, but at the same time, genetically modified (GM) crops are also spreading in India. I wish more people would become aware of the dangers of such "technologies". It seems to me that the elite in India can enter into some agreements with foreign governments or multinational companies - but these agreements have implications for the whole country. That is the danger. Sorry about my sermonizing :)
--"I think you are a greater threat to their existence than global warming."
LOL ! Aint that the truth !
lmao
Don't forget how scary monks are,
Having more then 70 in a monastery is a very high crime in China
Just wondering if those fragile grass plains are natural or a result of deforestation.
The Tibetan plateau has always had little vegetation. The Tibetan people who live there have evolved a culture and a civilization that can survive there - with what's available locally. In recent decades, though, much "development" has been brought to them, though they didn't particularly ask for it.
Much of Tibet was once forested and had been cleared thousands of years ago using traditional slash and burn to clear land for grazing.
That deforestation happened a long time ago doesn't mean it's a good thing.
http://www.danielwinkler.com/deforestation_1998.htm
True. The California coast was one large mass of redwood forests dating back to millions of years and probably one of the oldest living forests in the world. Till less than 200 years ago. Currently 1% of that forest mass survives in small patches. Ive visited those small patches up in Northern California and shed tears. Deforestation is never a good thing. Future generations always end up facing the consequences of our short-sighted vision.
Morticia, interesting paper, thanks. I should have realized Tibet itself is a very large region, whereas I was thinking of the higher altitudes where there is naturally little vegetation (but people live there too). I say interesting, because I've been carrying this hypothesis that overgrazing in the past has probably caused or accelerated desertification in regions, though it's not within my expertise to test it. Even in Mongolia, for example - there is little vegetation, but lots of grazing. The Arabian peninsula has so much oil - don't know if that means that place was forested before, or if it was under sea. Anyway, my thinking has more to do with *current* desertification or the potential for it through overgrazing.
The paper you cited also has this to say:
"In Tibet, as in most places in the world, processes which used to take millennia or centuries can now occur within decades or even years. Deforestation is a common phenomenon throughout China, and many other forest areas such as in Heilongjiang in the north-east are now being depleted in a similarly tragic way. After the industrial world made its way onto the Tibetan plateau via Chinese modernisation the forests have been reduced nearly by half. This is mostly through planned commercial timber extraction, and not through intense local population pressure. Yet in the 1980s the usual explanation given by Chinese scientists was that local people were causing the deforestation through firewood gathering, clearing of forests for grazing and cultivation and taking construction wood, economic practices that reflect the new prosperity".
So deforestation has happened in recent years too. I didn't know that.
It can be interesting to look at borders between countries, where grazing is forbidden (or impossible as the terrain is heavily mined). You get all sorts of vegetation when goats are removed.
The Climate Extreming shows no respect for the Climate Change Deniers.
No respect is shown by the Climate for the Main Stream Media imposed fairness of debate. Therefore Climate Extreming can't be taken seriously. No matter how much 'anecdotal evidence' of extreme weather accrues. Q.E.D.
The High Arctic is dramatically warming up. We "Southerners", I live in Nova Scotia, mistakenly can't accept global warming because of a few snow storms or a little chill in February.
I just finished surveying Environment Canada's weather sites for the Canadian northern territories of Yukon, Nunavut, and Northwest Territories. As of 9:00am atlantic, all of these regions were showing much warmer than normal temps. The weekly forecast is for more of same. Go to http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca and look at what is happening to Arctic temperatures.
We are so screwed.