Glacier in Tibet [Photo/Agencies]

Along with global climate change, the average temperature and annual precipitation for 54 years in Tibet have shown an upward trend year by year, and the plateau becomes warmer and wetter with the amount of shrinkage of its glaciers for the past 30 years equivalent to that of the previous 200 years combined, Guangming Daily reported.

Statistics show that from 1961 to 2014, the annual average temperatures of Tibet are rising at a speed of 0.31℃ each decade, much higher than the speed of the world - 0.16℃ and that of China - 0.28℃.

At the same time, the increase in rainfall averages out to about 6.9 mm each decade. In 2014, the recorded annual rainfall was 25.2mm higher than the average, coming to a total of 478.9mm for the entire year.

"It is a main characteristic for Tibet to become warmer and wetter during the process of climate change over the past half century," said Xiang Yuyi, deputy director of Tibet Weather bureau.

As of now, the global warming effects in Tibet are more obviously due to its high altitude, and Tibet, therefore, becomes the most typical area of climate change, Xiang Yuyi added.

Data acquired from many years of monitoring and analyses have shown that the climate change in Tibet has caused its boundaries of frigid and subtropical zones move westward and northward and the temperate zone expand. All these factors have contributed to a positive trend in its ecosystem.

"Most vegetation-covered areas in Tibet have shown a stable condition, and a dramatic change has occurred in the ecosystem of Tibet’s forests," Xiang Yuyi said.

Climate warming directly result in melting of frozen earth and glaciers.

According to Cai Dong, associate researcher in Qinghai-Tibet Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, over the past 30 years on the plateau, the frozen earth has decreased 240,000 square kilometers, and the glaciers have shrunk by 15 percent, the amount of which is equivalent to that of the past 200 years. The accelerated melting of glaciers result in increases in run-off and dam bursting, meanwhile, the barrier lakes formed by landslides are easier to lead to flood and debris flow.