Qinghai-Tibet Plateau warming will bring serious problems, experts warn

BEIJING, Aug. 17 (Xinhua)- The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is growing warmer and experts warn, if the trend continues, it will cause environmental deterioration and water shortages.

Herdsmen ride horses along the lakefront of the Qinghai Lake, about  150 kilometers west of Xining, capital of northwest China's  Qinghai Province, Aug. 14, 2009. The Qinghai Lake is the largest  salt-water lake in China.(Xinhua/Hou Deqiang)

"The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is among the regions worst hit by global warming. In turn, this will have a deleterious effect on global climate and also the livelihood of Asian people," said Qin Dahe, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a former head of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA). He was also the first Chinese person to cross the South Pole.

The temperature in the Tibet Autonomous Region has risen by an average of 0.32 degrees Celsius every 10 years from 1961 to 2008, much higher than China's national warming rates of 0.05 to 0.08 degrees. Tibet's average temperature in July this year was the highest since 1951, according to CMA data.

Rain in western and southern Tibet lessened by between 30 to 80percent compared to the same period in previous years.

"Due to global warming, glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are retreating extensively at a speed faster than in any other part of the world. In the short term, this will cause lakes to expand and bring floods and mudflows.

"In the long run, glaciers are vital lifelines for Asian rivers such as the Indus and the Ganges. Once they vanish, water supplies in those regions will in peril," Qin said.

Yao Tandong, one of China's leading glacier experts and director of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Research Institute of CAS, echoed Qin's view, saying glaciers on the plateau were accurate archives of past climate change.

"Glaciers on the plateau show warming has been abrupt and exceptional. It is warmer now than at any time during the past 2,000 years," Yao said.

The plateau is world's third largest ice store. So far, about 82 percent of glacier surface on the plateau has retreated and the glacier area itself has decreased by 4.5 percent during the past 20 years.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations body studying global warming, predicted in May that glaciers on the Himalayas (including the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau) could vanish within three decades at present warming rates.

Another huge threat because of warming was the degradation of permafrost, or perennially frozen ground, Qin said.