Photo taken on Sept. 20, 2007, shows the glaciers in Bome County, southeastern Tibet's Nyingchi Prefecture. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has 50,000 sq km of glaciers, mainly located in Mt. Kunlun and the Himalayas. In the past ten decades, the glaciers on the plateau have shrunk by 30 percent. Experts predict that glaciers throughout China will shrink by 45 percent from today, if the temperature increases by 2.1 to 4℃ at the end of the 21st century. (Xinhua Photo)The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has been one of the worst-affected zones in the world by global climatic changes because of its unique landforms, terrains and environmental features.
This remark was made by Yu Xinwen, spokesman for the China Meteorological Administration.
Statistics released Monday by the administration showed that extreme high temperatures hit most areas of Tibet in July, with the average temperature rising to the record high in the corresponding period since 1951. Meanwhile, rainfall in western and southern Tibet plunged by 30 to 80 percent, compared with the same period in previous years.
Yu also urged the international community to pay closer attention to various kinds of nature warning signals, such as glacier shrinkage and eco-environment deterioration.
Apart from global warming, abnormal atmospheric circulation also has resulted in the high temperature on the plateau since last month. The snow accumulation from last winter to this spring was less than the same period in previous years, said Chen Lijuan, senior engineer of the administration's National Climate Center.
Source: Xinhua
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