Tibetan plateau warmer, moister: report

BEIJING - The Tibetan plateau gets warmer and moister, particularly over the past 50 years, said a report on environment change in the region publicized on Wednesday by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research.

The average annual temperature in the region rose by 0.3 to 0.4 degree Celsius every ten years from 1960 to 2012, about twice the average of the rest of the world. The temperature rose more sharply in winter and in northern part of the plateau.

Ice core records showed that temperatures in the region rose the most in the 20th century. According to climate change models, the next 100 years may see the plateau warming by 4 degrees Celsius.

Precipitation showed an overall rise from 1960 to 2012 of 2.2 percent every ten years, but changes in precipitation were unevenly distributed. Precipitation in the north increased, while that in the south declined.

The CAS institute describes the Tibetan plateau in its report as the areas mainly in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, with an average altitude of over 4,500 meters.