Climatic characteristics of plateau and mountain areas

The climate in plateau and mountainous areas is characterized by high terrain and low temperature.

Plateau mountain climate refers to a local climate influenced by height and mountain topography. Mainly distributed in high mountains and plateau areas, such as Himalayas, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, South American Andes and so on.

In mountainous areas, the temperature decreases with the increase of height, and the vertical change of climate is significant. At a certain height, it is humid, foggy and rainy. The higher the mountain, the stronger the wind. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China is high in altitude and low in temperature, but it has strong radiation, abundant sunshine, little precipitation and strong wind in winter. The annual range of temperature is small, and the daily range is large.

Plateau regional differences

The world-famous plateaus in mid-latitude and low-latitude areas include the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Inner Mongolia Plateau and Loess Plateau in China, the western plateau in the United States, the Bolivian Plateau in South America and the East African Plateau. Because of their different geographical location, land and sea environment, altitude and plateau morphology, the climate is also different.

The average height of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is more than 4,000 meters, with a large area and prominent plateau climate characteristics. Due to the small thickness of the plateau atmosphere, low water vapor content and high radiation intensity, the ultraviolet radiation intensity increases. The annual radiation in most parts of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is about 1 times higher than that in eastern China at the same latitude.

At the same time, the effective radiation on the plateau is large, so the radiation difference is small. The diurnal variation of plateau temperature is significant. The daily variation of temperature in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is about 1 ~ 2 times higher than that in the eastern part of China. The edge of the plateau facing the ocean airflow is a rainy area, while the rainfall inside the plateau and the edge facing the ocean airflow is less.