Positive Associations of Vegetation with Temperature over the Alpine Grasslands in the Western Tibetan Plateau during May

Abstract The Tibetan Plateau (TP) has undergone extreme changes in climatic and land surface conditions that are due to a warming climate and land-cover changes. We examined the change in vegetation dynamics from 1982 to 2015 and explored the associations of vegetation with atmospheric variables over the alpine grasslands in the western TP during May as an early growing season. The linear regression analysis of area-averaged normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) over the western TP in May demonstrated a 7.5% decrease of NDVI during the period from 1982 to 2015, an increase of NDVI by 11.3% from 1982 to 1998, and a decrease of NDVI by 14.5% from 1999 to 2015. The significantly changed NDVI in the western TP could result in the substantial changes in surface energy balances as shown in the surface climatic variables of albedo, net solar radiation, sensible heat flux, latent heat fluxes, and 2-m temperature. The land and atmosphere associations were not confined to the surface but also extended into the upper-level atmosphere up to the 300-hPa level as indicated by the significant positive associations between NDVI and temperatures in both air temperature and equivalent temperature, resulting in more than a 1-K increase with NDVI. Therefore, we concluded that the increasing or decreasing vegetation cover in the western TP during May can respectively increase or decrease the temperatures near the surface and upper atmosphere through a positive physical linkage among the vegetation cover, surface energy fluxes, and temperatures. The positive energy processes of vegetation with temperature could further amplify the variations of temperature and thus water availability. Significance Statement The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is an important landmass that plays a significant role in both regional and global climates. This study aims to examine the vegetation change in the TP during May as an early growing season to examine the changes in the near-surface and upper-level climatic conditions associated with vegetation change and to identify the plausible physical processes of the vegetation effects on atmosphere. The satellite-derived vegetation index showed a 7.5% decrease from 1982 to 2015 in the western TP during May. This study identified the positive associations of vegetation activity with temperature and proposed a positive energy process for land–atmosphere interactions over the alpine grasslands in the western region of TP during the transition period from winter to spring.