Affiliation:
1. Synthesis Research Centre of Chinese Ecosystem Research Network, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modelling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) Beijing China
3. Guangdong‐Hong Kong Joint Laboratory for Carbon Neutrality Jiangmen Laboratory of Carbon Science and Technology Jiangmen China
4. BNU‐HKUST Laboratory for Green Innovation, Advanced Institute of Natural Sciences Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai Zhuhai China
Abstract
AbstractElevation‐dependent warming (EDW) has been a topic of intense debate due to limited observed data in global highland areas. This study aims to fill this gap by utilizing CRU and ERA5 datasets from 1981 to 2021 to explore the trends of climate change and its elevation dependency. The anomalies of temperature indicators (Tmean, Tmax, and Tmin) in both ERA5 and CRU showed significant warming trends over global highlands. Moreover, the response of temperature indicators to elevation across global highlands is not spatially uniform. The linear regression model based on the elevation showed significant warming signals for the temperature indicators at various elevations over the global highlands. On a regional scale, Tmean and Tmax predominantly showed linear EDW over EU highlands, while Tmean in Asian highlands exhibited EDW signals at 4–5 km. Tmin showed EDW at 2.5–5.5 km with ERA5 and 3–5 km with CRU. In the Andes, EDW was prominent at 2.5–4 km. Overall, EDW signals are evident in all studied regions but vary across them. While assessing the driving factors, the results of this study indicate that total column water vapour (TCWV), snow depth (SD), snow albedo, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) correlated positively with the temperature indicators. These findings emphasize the significance of elevation‐specific interactions between environmental factors and temperature in forecasting temperature changes in mountainous areas. Additionally, temperature exhibited coherence with teleconnection indices from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Asian and European (EU) highlands exhibited interzonal coherence with the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, while North American (NA) highlands showed coherence, followed by South American (SA) highlands. These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of EDW and its implications for highland regions globally, including the potential for more severe depletion of snow/ice resources in a warmer future.
Funder
National Key Research and Development Program of China