Aerosol-cloud interactions over the Tibetan Plateau: An overview

This paper reviews progress in the study of aerosol-cloud interactions over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) in the past decade. Clarifying the aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions over the TP is an important issue for both local and downstream precipitation forecasts. By exerting a “dynamic pump” effect due to the elevated heat source in summer, the TP acts as a “transfer station” for aerosols and water vapor, possessing abundant water vapor and enough cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei (IN) in cloud physical processes. We found that mixtures of aerosols and clouds are frequently observed over the margin areas of the TP, especially the mixture between aerosols and ice clouds. The convective clouds over the TP could be affected by the Taklimakan dusts lifted from the north slope of the TP, inducing higher and more invigorated convective clouds locally. Furthermore, the dust-polluted convective clouds can continuously move eastward and merge with the convective cloud clusters along their motion paths, inducing more intensive rainfall over the downstream regions of the TP. Finally, challenges to further understanding aerosol-cloud interactions over the TP in the future are discussed.