Causes of tropical jungle formation in Gaoligong Mountain, Yunnan Province

Gaoligong Mountain is located in the subtropical zone. It is generally believed that there is unlikely to be a "tropical jungle" here. In fact, this is an illusion: tropical jungles do exist in Gaoligong Mountain area.

The tropical jungle of Gaoligong Mountain is caused by its unique natural environment: it is located on the southeast edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, influenced by the southwest monsoon of the Indian Ocean in summer, with a hot and humid climate, which has some "high temperature and rainy characteristics" of the tropical rainforest climate, and influenced by the northeast monsoon and the south branch westerly wind in winter.

The northeast monsoon moves south from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with high altitude, and it is easy to form a foehn effect near Hengduan Mountain (Gaoligong Mountain is a part of it). Therefore, the valley area of Gaoligong Mountain is generally a "dry-hot valley" that is not too cold. At the same time, with the seasonal displacement of the planetary wind system, the "westerly belt" in the northern hemisphere is divided into two parts by the "Pamir-Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Uplift", and its southern branch. The unique climatic environment of Gaoligong Mountain is undoubtedly very conducive to the growth of vegetation, which is also the cause of its tropical jungle.

It should also be noted that the concepts of "tropical rain forest" and "tropical jungle" are easily confused. The former is landscape classification based on climate, while the latter is landscape classification based on culture.