Decrease in snowfall/rainfall ratio in the Tibetan Plateau from 1961 to 2013

• Published in: Journal of geographical sciences Vol. 26; no. 9; pp. 1277 - 1288
• Main Authors: Wang, Jie, Zhang, Mingjun, Wang, Shengjie, Ren, Zhengguo, Che, Yanjun, Qiang, Fang, Qu, Deye
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Science Press 01.09.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Earth and Environmental Science; Geographical Information Systems/Cartography; Geography; Nature Conservation; Physical Geography; Precipitation; Rainfall; Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry; Snow; Trends; 比率; 气象信息中心; 空间分辨率; 西藏高原; 降水总量; 降水量; 降雨量; 降雪量; Tibetan Plateau; China, People's Rep., Xizang, Tibetan Plateau; gridded data; snowfall/rainfall ratio; Tibetan Plateau; precipitation
• ISSN: 1009-637X; 1861-9568
• DOI: 10.1007/s11442-016-1326-8

On the basis of two gridded datasets of daily precipitation and temperature with a spatial resolution of 0.5°×0.5°, and meteorological station data released by the National Meteorological Information Center （NMIC） during 1961-2013, the spatial and temporal variations of total amount of precipitation, amount of rainfall, amount of snowfall and snowfall/rainfall ratio （S/R） in the Tibetan Plateau （TP） are analyzed using Sen＇s slope, the Mann-Kendall mutation test, Inverse Distance Weighting （IDW） and the Morlet wavelet. Total amount of precipitation and amount of rainfall generally show statistically significant increasing trends of 0.6 mm·a^-1 and 1.3 mm·a^-1, respectively, while amount of snowfall and SIR have significant decreasing trends of-0.6 mm·a^-1 and -0.5% a^-1, respectively. In most regions, due to significant increasing trends in total amount of precipitation and amount of rainfall, and significant decreasing trends in amount of snowfall, SIR shows a decreasing trend in the TP. Abrupt changes in total amount of precipitation, amount of rainfall, amount of snowfall and S/R are detected for 2005, 2004, 1996 and 1998, respectively. Total amount of precipitation, amount of rainfall, amount of snowfall and SIR are concentrated in cycles of approximately 5 years, 10 years, 16 years and 20 years, respectively. The trend magnitudes for total amount of precipitation and amount of rainfall all show decreasing-to-increasing trends with elevation, while amount of snowfall and SIR show decreasing trends.