Abstract:

The uplift of the Tibetan Plateau is a major Cenozoic geological event that profoundly impacted the Asian as well as global climate and environmental changes. For nearly half a century, researchers have investigated the effects of the uplift through numerical simulation using various models, and the results have substantially improved the mechanistic understanding of the uplift induced climate change and its role in driving the evolution of paleoclimate. This paper briefly reviews the advances in the numerical simulation of the climate effects of the uplift, then summarizes and introduces the main achievements by three stages of simulation studies. The most recent studies show that during its uplift, growth and northward movement since the Cenozoic, the dynamic and thermal effects of the Tibetan Plateau have a profound impact on the formation of the East Asian monsoon, evolution of the South Asian monsoon, development of aridity in inner Asia, and change in the Asian monsoon-arid environmental pattern. The climate effects of the uplift are different in different parts of the plateau and surrounding regions, and closely related to the changes in land-sea distribution and paleogeographic patterns under the background of continental drift. The establishment of the south subtropical monsoon is determined by the location of continental drift and the seasonal movement of the tropical convergence zone; whilst the establishment of the East Asian monsoon is primarily determined by the uplift and the northward movement of the plateau. The existence of Asian subtropical arid areas depends on the position of the continent and the control of planetary-scale subtropical highs. The formation of Asian inland arid areas at mid-latitude is the result of the plateau uplift. Finally, we discuss the existing problems and possible improvements to the numerical simulation.

Key words: uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, numerical simulation, climate change, Asian monsoon, aridification