Chinese researchers has predicted that global warming would make the weather in the northern margin of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau warmer and wetter.

The northern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau is a climatically sensitive zone influenced by monsoon and westerly winds. 

Researchers from the College of Earth and Environmental Sciences of Lanzhou University compared the temperature and precipitation in the region during the mid-Holocene warm period, the medieval climate anomaly, the current warm period, and the future warm period from the perspective of paleoclimate.

They found that the future climate in the region will be more similar to the mid-Holocene warm period, which was mainly affected by the orbit-controlled East Asian summer monsoon that brought a warm and humid climate.

Continued warming will lead to the expansion of the westerly belt and also a gradually humid climate, according to the study.

Researchers also found that despite the warming and wetting trend in the region, the overall climate in China would not change.

Climate change is generally cyclical, said Professor Li Yu from Lanzhou University. The past warm period can provide a historical reference for weather prediction. 

The research article was published in the journal Science China: Earth Sciences.

(Cover image via CFP)