Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

, 13, 1103–1111, 2009

[Link]/13/1103/2009/ Hydrology and
© Author(s) 2009. This work is distributed under Earth System
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Sciences

Recent advances on the study of atmosphere-land interaction

observations on the Tibetan Plateau
Y. Ma1,2 , Y. Wang1 , R. Wu1 , Z. Hu2 , K. Yang1 , M. Li2 , W. Ma2 , L. Zhong1 , F. Sun2 , X. Chen1 , Z. Zhu1 , S. Wang1 , and
H. Ishikawa3
1 Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
2 Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences,

Lanzhou 730000, China

3 Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan

Received: 27 December 2008 – Published in Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss.: 24 February 2009
Revised: 22 June 2009 – Accepted: 28 June 2009 – Published: 9 July 2009

Abstract. As a unique geological and geographical unit, especially controls climatic and environmental changes in
the Tibetan Plateau dramatically impacts the world’s envi- Asia and elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. It there-
ronment and especially controls climatic and environmen- fore provides a field laboratory for studying global climatic
tal changes in China, Asia and even in the Northern Hemi- change.
sphere. Tibetan Plateau, therefore, provides a field labora- The thermal effects of the giant plateau on the atmosphere
tory for studying global change. With support from various greatly influence circulations over China, eastern Asia and
agencies in the People’s Republic of China, a Tibetan Obser- even the globe (e.g. Ye and Gao, 1979; Ye, 1981; Yanai
vation and Research Platform (TORP) is now implementing. et al., 1992; Ye and Wu, 1998; Ma and Tsukamoto, 2002;
Firstly the background of the establishment of the TORP, the Ma et al., 2005; Ma et al., 2006a; Ma et al., 2006a;). The
establishing and monitoring plan of long-term scale (5–10 plateau absorbs a large proportion of solar radiation (some
years) of the TORP has been introduced. Then the prelimi- of which is redistributed by cryospheric processes) and un-
nary observational analysis results, such as the characteristics dergoes dramatic seasonal changes of surface heat and water
of land surface heat fluxes and CO2 flux partitioning (diurnal fluxes (e.g. Ye and Gao, 1979; Zhang et al., 1988; Yanai et
variation and inter-monthly variation etc.), the characteristics al., 1992; Ye and Wu, 1998; Xu et al., 2002; Ma et al., 2005;
of atmospheric and soil variables, the structure of the Atmo- Ma et al., 2006a; Ma et al., 2006b). The lack of quantitative
spheric Boundary Layer (ABL) and the turbulent character- understanding of interactions between the land surface and
istics have also been shown in this paper. atmosphere makes it difficult to understand and model the
complete energy and water cycles over the Tibetan Plateau
and their effects on global climate change. Therefore, the
1 Introduction number of atmosphere-land interaction studies over the Ti-
betan Plateau has been increased in recent years. But exper-
The Tibetan Plateau, with the most prominent and compli- iments have been limited to determine the land and atmo-
cated terrain on the globe and an elevation averaging more spheric parameters, and most investigations have been only
than 4000 m above mean sea level (msl), is often called the in summer and at a few locations (e.g. Zhang et al., 1988; Ye
“Third Pole” because its geographic significance is akin to and Wu, 1998; Ma and Tsukamoto, 2002; Xu et al., 2002;
that of Antarctica and the Arctic (Qiu, 2008). The Tibetan Yang et al., 2004; Ma et al., 2005, 2006a, b).
Plateau dramatically impacts the world’s environment and Supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ministry
of Science and Technology of People’s Republic of China,
China Meteorological Administration, Ministry of Education
Correspondence to: Y. Ma of People’s Republic of China, Tibetan Autonomous Region
(ymma@[Link]) of China, and State Forest Administration, People’s Republic

Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.

1104 Y. Ma et al.: Study of atmosphere-land interaction observations on the Tibetan Plateau

Mt. Mushitageta

Haibei

Ali Golmud

Shuanghu
Mt. Tanggula
Meso Scale Experimental Area
Nam Co
Lhasa
Mt. Gongga
Mt. Qomolangma( Everest )
Linzhi
N

100km

Fig.1. TheandTibetan
Fig. 1. The Tibetan Observation Research Observation and
Platform (TORP) Research
for the Platform (TORP)
study of atmosphere-land for on
interaction thethestudy
Tibetanof
Plateau.

atmosphere-land interaction on the Tibetan Plateau. : Comprehensive

of China, an Tibetan Observation and Research Platform search stations of Haibei, Golmud, Lhasa and Mt. Gongga
(TORP) has been established and being focused on the land were established by other institutes of CAS around the be-
observation and research station; : Observational site; :Meso-scale
surface processes and environment over the plateau, with an ginning of 2000. All the established stations are working
emphasis on atmosphere-land interaction. well now and have yielded a large amount of data. Ali sta-
experimental area of the GAME/Tibet
The establishing and monitoring plan and the recent ad- andand
tion theMt.
CAMP/Tibet.
Mushitageta have been established in the end
vances of the TORP will be introduced firstly in this paper. of 2008. Shuanghu station and Mt. Tanggula station will be
Then the preliminary observational analysis results, such as established by ITP, CAS around the end of 2012. All the 10
the characteristics of land surface heat fluxes and CO2 flux observational sites are just in planning now, and they will be
partitioning (diurnal variation, inter-monthly variation and set up around the end of 2012. It means that 11 comprehen-
inter-yearly variation etc.), the characteristics of atmospheric sive observation and research stations and 10 observational
and soil variables, the structure of the Atmospheric Bound- sites will be operating around the end of 2012.
ary Layer (ABL) and the turbulent characteristics will also One of the important parts in the TORP is the mesoscale
be shown here. monitoring network (see Figs.1 and 2). It has already worked
successfully during the Global Energy and Water cycle Ex-
periment (GEWEX) Asian Monsoon Experiment on the Ti-
2 Tibetan Observation and Research Platform (TORP) betan Plateau (GAME/Tibet, 1996–2000) and the Coordi-
nated Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP) Asia-Australia
The TORP is consisted of 21 comprehensive observation and Monsoon Project on the Tibetan Plateau (CAMP/Tibet,
research stations and 16 observational sites, of which 11 2001–2006) (Ma et al., 2005). This monitoring network was
comprehensive observation and research stations and 10 ob- established in the beginning of 1998 during the GAME/Tibet
servational sites are configured for the study of atmosphere- period and some more instruments were set up during the
land interaction (see Fig. 1). The instruments and param- CAMP/Tibet period (see Fig. 2 and Table 2). It covered
eters measured in the comprehensive observation and re- a 150 km×250 km area (91◦ –92.5◦ E, 30.7◦ –33.3◦ N) and
search stations and the observational sites are shown in Ta- many kinds of instruments have been deployed in the net-
24
ble 1. Three comprehensive observation and research sta- work (see Fig. 2, Table 1 and Ma et al., 2005). A large
tions (Mt. Qomolangma–Mt. Everest, Namco, and Linzhi) amount of data has been collected during the GAME/Tibet
were established by the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research and the CAMP/Tibet, which was the best data set so far for
(ITP), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in the end the study of the Tibetan Plateau hydrometeorology (Ma et
of August 2005. The comprehensive observation and re- al., 2005). It is better to expand the observation as long as

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 1103–1111, 2009 [Link]/13/1103/2009/

Y. Ma et al.: Study of atmosphere-land interaction observations on the Tibetan Plateau 1105

Fig.2

25
Fig. 2. The sites layout during the Global Energy and Water cycle Experiment(GEWEX) Asian Monsoon Experiment on the Tibetan
Plateau (GAME/Tibet)and the Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP) Asia-Australia Monsoon Project on the Tibetan Plateau
(CAMP/Tibet).

possible for the study of atmosphere-land interaction and cli- 1. The diurnal variations of radiation fluxes (downward
matic change over the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding ar- and upward shortwave radiation and upward long-wave
eas. Therefore all the instruments in the GAME/Tibet and radiation) and surface heat fluxes (net radiation flux, soil
CAMP/Tibet will be continued for long-term observations in heat flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux) over
the TORP. the Tibetan Plateau area are very obvious clear, and the
The data collected by the TORP will be archived by the downward shortwave radiation are obvious larger than
TORP data center in the ITP, CAS. The archived data will that in other areas due to the higher elevation and clear
be available to the scientific community all over the world. atmosphere over the Tibetan Plateau area (e.g. Tanaka
Scientists can submit a proposal to the data center to apply et al., 2001; Ma et al., 2003, 2005; Ma and Ma, 2006;
for using data. Ishikawa et al., 2006; Li, et al., 2006a, b, c; Zhong et al.,
2006., 2007a, b; Ma et al., 2007; Li et al., 2008). The
surface energy budget was, however, not well closed
from the observed data. This kind of “imbalances” was
3 In-situ data analysis and results over the Tibetan found not only from the ABL tower (AWS) data analy-
Plateau area sis, but also from sonic-anemometer data analysis. And
the “imbalances” is larger in summer than that in win-
3.1 Land surface heat fluxes and CO2 flux ter, it is 70% in summer and 92% in winter (e.g. Tanaka
et al., 2001; Ma et al., 2005; Ishikawa et al., 2006; Su et
The characteristics of the land surface heat fluxes and CO2 al., 2006).
flux over the Tibetan Plateau area were derived by using in-
situ data observed from the TORP. The results show that:

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25
1106 Y. Ma et al.: Study of atmosphere-land interaction observations on the Tibetan Plateau

Table 1. The instruments and parameters measured in the comprehensive observation and research stations and observational sites of the
TORP.

Station (site) Observation item

***20 m ABL tower (MILOS520, Vaisala Co.): wind speed, wind direction,
air temperature and humidity (height (m): 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 10.0 and 20.0),
surface temperature, soil heat flux (depth (cm):−10 and −20), air pressure,
rain intensity.
–Radiation measurement system(CNR-1, Kipp & Zonen Co.): short wave
radiation (downward and upward), long wave radiation (downward and
upward).
***Soil moisture and soil temperature measurement system (SMTMS):
Comprehensive Soil moisture (Trime EZ, Imko Co.) (depth (cm): −10, −20, −40, −80, −160);
observation and Soil temperature (Pt100, Datamark Co.) (depth (cm): −10, −20, −40, −80,
research station −160).
***GPS radio-sonde system (MW21 DigiCORA III, Vaisala Co.): Profile of
air pressure, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction.
***Wind Profiler and RASS (LAP3000, Vaisala Co.): Profile of air
temperature, wind speed and direction.
***Sonic turbulent measurement system (CSAT3, Campbell Co.) and
CO2 /H2 O flux measurement system (LI7500, Campbell Co.): wind speed,
wind direction, air temperature, relative humidity, the characteristic length
scales of surface layer, sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, CO2 /H2 O flux,
stability parameter.
***10 m Automatic Weather Station (AWS) (MILOS520, Vaisala Co.):
wind speed, wind direction, air temperature and humidity (height (m): 1.0,
5.0, and 10.0), surface temperature, soil heat flux (depth (cm):−10 and −20),
air pressure, rain intensity, and snow depth.
Observational ***Radiation measurement system (CNR-1, Kipp & Zonen Co.): short wave
site radiation (downward and upward), long wave radiation (downward and
upward).
***Soil moisture and soil temperature measurement system (SMTMS):
Soil moisture (Trime EZ, Imko Co.) (depth (cm): −10, −20, −40, −80,−160);
Soil temperature (Pt100, Datamark Co.) (depth (cm): −10, −20, −40, −80,
−160).

2. The diurnal variations of the turbulent fluxes are differ- 4. Sensible heat flux H and latent heat flux LE vary by
ent during the dry period (pre-monsoon period) and wet less than 10% of their magnitude with height over the
period (inside monsoon period). During dry period, the flat prairie area of Naqu area of the northern Tibetan
daytime sensible heat flux is larger than the latent heat Plateau. In other words, the surface layer (up to 20 m)
flux, while during the wet period, the latent heat flux over the flat prairie area is a constant flux layer, i.e. the
is larger than the sensible heat flux due to the differ- Monin-Obukhov similarity theory applies to this height,
ent land surface status between the dry and wet period and energy advection at the area can be neglected, at
(e.g. Ma et al., 2003, 2005; Li et al., 2006a; Ma and Ma, least up to 20 m (Ma et al., 2005).
2006).
5. The land surface is a very strong heating source in the
3. The diurnal variation of momentum flux over the north- day time, it is a weak surface heating sink in the night,
ern Tibetan Plateau area during the dry period is also but the daily mean is strong surface heating source. The
obvious, increasing in the morning to its maximum in surface heating densities (Rn (net radiation)–G0 (soil
the afternoon, and then decreasing. While it is com- heat flux) or H (sensible heat flux)+LE (latent heat
plex during the wet period, the daytime momentum flux flux)) in summer are much larger than those in winter,
is lower than that during the dry period, yet it still in- and they reach their minimum values around January.
creases at night (Li et al., 2006a). In other words, the surface of the Tibetan Plateau is a
strong heating source in summer and it is a weak heat-
ing source in winter (e.g. Ma and Tsukamoto, 2002).

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Y. Ma et al.: Study of atmosphere-land interaction observations on the Tibetan Plateau 1107

Table 2. The instruments and parameters measured in the sites of the mesoscale network of the TORP.

Site Observation item

***PBL (ABL) tower (MILOS500, Vaisala Co.): wind speed
(Aerobane FF-11, Ogasawara Co.) (height (m): 1.9, 6.0 and 14.1),
wind direction (Aerobane FF-11, Ogasawara Co.) (height (m): 14.1),
air temperature (HMP35D-Pt100, Vaisala Co.) and humidity (Electric
Capacitance, ibid Co.) (height (m): 1.55, 5.65 and 13.75), surface
Amdo temperature (MF-81, Optex Co.), soil heat flux (MF-81, EKO Co.)
(depth (cm): −10 and −20), air pressure (DPA21, Vaisala Co.) , rain
intensity (RG-13, Vaisala Co.).
***Radiation: downward and upward short wave radiation (CM21,
Kipp & Zonen Co.), downward and upward long wave radiation
(Precision Infrared Radiometer, Eppley Co.)
Wind speed and wind direction at 6.0 m (WS-942, Ogasawara Co.), air
Automatic Weather Station temperature and humidity at 1.5 m (HMP35A, Vaisala Co.), surface
(AWS) temperature (HR1-FL, Chino Co.), soil temperature at −20 cm (Pt-100,
(D110, MS3608) Vaisala Co.), solar radiation (S-100, EKO Co.), air pressure (PTB100,
Vaisala Co.), rain intensity (RG-13, Vaisala Co.)
Wind speed (WS-D32, Komatsu Co.) (height (m): 10, 5, 1.0), wind
direction at 10 m (WS-D32, Komatsu Co.), air temperature (TS-801,
Okazaki Co.) and humidity (HMP-45D, Vaisala Co.) (height (m): 9.0,
Automatic Weather Station 1.0), downward and upward short–wave radiation (CM21, Kipp &
(AWS) Zonen Co.), downward and upward long wave radiation (Precision
(D105, MS3478, BJ, ANNI) Infrared Radiometer, Eppley Co.), air pressure (PTB220C, Vaisala Co.),
surface temperature (IRt/C 1X-T50F, Exergen Co.), snow depth (SR-50,
Campbel Co.), precipitation (NOAH-II, ETI Co.), soil heat flux
(MF-81, EKO CO.) (depth (cm):−10, −20).
Soil moisture and soil ***Soil temperature (Pt100, Datamark Co.) (depth (cm):−4, −20, −60,
temperature suystem −80, −100, −130, −160, −200, −279).
(D105, D110, Amdo, BJ,) ***Soil moisture (Trime EZ, Imko Co.) (depth (cm): −4, −20, −60, −100,
(ANNI, MS3608, MS3637) −160, −258).
Sonic turbulent measurement system (DA-600, Kaijo Denki Co.)
Turbulent measurement and CO2 /H2 Oflux measurement system (LI7500, Campbell Co.):
(BJ) wind speed, wind direction, air temperature, relative humidity, the
characteristic length scales of surface layer, sensible heat flux, latent
heat flux, CO2 /H2 O flux, stability parameter.
Wind Profiler and RASS
(LAP3000, Vaisala Co.)(BJ) Profile of air temperature, wind speed and direction.

6. The diurnal variation of CO2 flux in summer is obvi- 4 The characteristics of atmospheric and soil variables
ous over the alpine meadow surface of Mt. Everest area.
The negative CO2 (CO2 uptake) flux was observed from The characteristics of the atmospheric and soil variables over
1000 (local time) to 2100, but positive CO2 flux (net the Tibetan Plateau area were derived by using in-situ data
CO2 emission) from 2200 to next 1100. CO2 flux is observed from the TORP. The results show that:
close to zero during the most time of the day in winter,
but showed a weak net upward CO2 flux from 1600 to 1. Surface albedo over the Tibetan Plateau has different
2100 (e.g. Zhu et al., 2007) . values in different season (Fig. 3), it is higher in winter
and spring and it is lower in summer and autumn. The
different albedo values in different seasons are not only
depended on the vegetation coverage, but also depended
on the snow cover. The grass is growing in summer and
autumn, but it becomes dry and very few in spring and

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1108 Y. Ma et al.: Study of atmosphere-land interaction observations on the Tibetan Plateau

0.40
albedo, long wave radiation and the heat of condensa-
tion. The change of yearly climate can be reflected in
0.35 the depth of 40 cm at least. The variations of daily mean
soil moisture at different depths have no pronounced
Surface albedo

0.30 change. The variations of monthly mean soil moisture

in different depths change distinctly. Soil moisture is
0.25
dependent on summer precipitation (e.g. Zhao et al.,
0.20
2006; Li et al., 2007; Zhong et al., 2007b; Chen et al.,
2008).
0.15
4.1 The structure of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer
0.10
spring summer autumn winter
The structure of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) is
Time analyzed by using the data observed from ABL tower, GPS
radio-sonde system and Wind Profiler and RASS from the
Fig. 3. The surface albedo variation over the Tibetan Plateau. TORP. The results show that:

Fig.3 The surface albedo variation over the Tibetan Plateau. 1. The plateau ABL can extend to heights of almost 3 km
winter, and the land surfaces of the stations (sites) are above the ground surface in Naqu area of the northern
always covered with the snow in winter. Data used in Tibetan Plateau, and is characterized by a well-mixed
Fig. 3 is hourly average values over seasons from six layer of potential temperature. The ABL height dur-
stations (sites) shown in the literature (Ma et al., 2005; ing the dry season is higher than that in the wet season.
Ma and Ma, 2006; Li et al., 2007; Zhong et al., 2007b). The energy budget in the ABL indicates that the sensi-
The six stations (sites) are D105, Amdo, MS3478, BJ ble heat is the dominant energy for sustaining the ABL
and ANNI (Fig. 2) and Mt. Qomolangma Station. The growth, and radiation also plays a significant role, but
land surfaces of Amdo, MS3478, BJ and ANNI are the rain evaporative cooling below the wet convection
covered with plateau grassy marshland and D105 and suppresses ABL development. The ABL evolution is
Mt. Qomolangma Station are covered with sparseness strongly associated with the convective activities. The
meadow. convection not only efficiently exchanges the quantities
between the near-surface layer and the upper layer, but
2. The aerodynamic roughness length z0m and the thermo- also enhances the air entrainment near the top of the
dynamic roughness length z0h are significantly different ABL (e.g. Yang et al., 2004; Zuo et al., 2005; Li et al.,
over the different land surfaces of the Tibetan Plateau. 2006c; Chen et al., 2007; Wang and Ma, 2008).
z0h is one magnitude smaller than z0m . It means that
both the aerodynamic and thermodynamic characteris- 2. The convection over the Tibetan Plateau evolves from
tics of the land surface have effects on z0m and z0h dry shallow convection in the morning to wet deep con-
(e.g. Ma et al., 2002a; Yang et al., 2003, 2008; Ma et vection in the afternoon. The shallow convection is
al., 2008). organized, and its major wavelength is controlled by
mesoscale hills. The deep convection is not very reg-
3. The excess resistance to heat transfer, kB −1 , has obvi- ular. Both nonlinear scale interactions and latent heat
ous diurnal variation over the Tibetan Plateau, i.e. the release from convection may play significant roles in
kB −1 values derived by 26other researchers in other areas the development of the deep convection. However, the
cannot been used directly in the numerical solutions and deep convection near mountains is related to an interac-
the procedures of satellite remote sensing parameteriza- tive process between mountain-valley circulations and
tion over the Tibetan Plateau area, the different values of rain evaporative cooling. The mountain-valley circu-
kB −1 should be used in different time of a day (e.g. Ma lations in the afternoon can be either upslope or down
et al., 2002a; Yang et al., 2003, 2008; Ma et al., 2008). slope (e.g. Yang et al., 2004; Zuo et al., 2005).
4. The variation of daily average ground temperature 3. The vertical gradients of potential temperature and hu-
above 10 cm can be showed as a sine curve. The yearly midity in the ABL of the Tibetan Plateau have an ob-
maximum temperature is in July and August. The phase vious sudden change in the middle of June. It indi-
of soil temperature variation in deeper layer is lagged cates that the Asian monsoon comes around that period
behind that of the shallower layer. The cooling of the (e.g. Sun et al., 2006, 2007; Sun and Ma, 2007).
soil is quite slow. However, the warming of the soil is
fast in spring and summer. Such phenomena may be 4. Clear glacier wind appears around the Mt. Everest area.
associated with the feedback processes of snow cover, The mountainous landform and the glacier environment

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 1103–1111, 2009 [Link]/13/1103/2009/

Y. Ma et al.: Study of atmosphere-land interaction observations on the Tibetan Plateau 1109

of Mt. Everest region had a major influence on the lower 2800

ABL, and the strong wind that takes place in late after-
2400
noon which was caused probably by the glacier wind
from the Mt. Everest (e.g. Sun et al., 2006., 2007; Sun 2000

ABL Height (m)

and Ma, 2007).
1600
5. The ABL height has obvious diurnal variation over the 1200
Mt. Everest area (Fig. 4). It means that when the sun
rises at around 10:00 LT (Local Time) in the morning, 800

ABL height increase with the increasing of solar alti- 400

tude angle, and the maximum value appears at about
0
15:00 LT, then it decrease with the decreasing of solar 4 8 12 16 20 24
altitude angle. Data used in Fig. 4 is hourly average val- Local Time
ues from the daily radio sounding measurements from
23 March to 29 May 2005 in Mt. Qomolangma Station. Fig. 4. The diurnal variation of the ABL height over the Mt. Everest
area.
4.2 The characteristics of the atmospheric turbulent
structure Fig.4
[Link]
Thediurnal variation
analysis of the ABL
of averaged heightand
spectra overco-spectra
the Mt. Everest
underarea
near neutral stratification over the Mt. Everest area (the
The characteristics of the atmospheric turbulent structure are
representative of Himalaya) revealed that low frequency
analyzed by using the data observed from the sonic turbulent
perturbations have a large influence on the variance of
measurement system from the TORP. The results show that:
all wind components, but mid frequency perturbations
1. In general, turbulence statistics over the flat prairie on have only influence on the variances of vertical wind
the northern Tibetan Plateau show similar results to components and also alter the co-spectra of momentum
those reported in the literature (e.g. Wang and Mitsuta, and sensible heat flux under near neutral stratification.
1991) from other sites. In other words, the normalized The spectrum of the horizontal wind speed is compara-
variance of the vertical wind was in better agreement ble to universal spectra. The middle frequency pertur-
with the law of Monin and Obukhov similarity theory bations occur as brief intermittent events and result in
than the horizontal wind. The normalized variance of downward entrainment of ambient air thereby produc-
3-D wind speed obeys the power law of 1/3 (Monin ing enhanced downward sensible heat fluxes and down-
and Obukhov, 1954). The normalized variance of wind ward as well as upward momentum fluxes with vari-
speed means that is normalized by the wind speed, and it ous magnitudes and timescales. The perturbation of low
is same as temperature and specific humidity. The nor- and mid frequencies is introduced. Spectral power of w
malized variance of temperature and specific humidity spectrum reduced results from glacier wind on the outer
satisfies the power law of −1/3 only in unstable con- layer. When the wind direction
27 was between 180◦ and
◦
225 , increased spectral power of uv and w spectrum in
ditions, it shows a very big discrepancy under neutral
stratification, but this is reduced with the increase of low frequency domain and reduced spectral power of w
stability under stable conditions (e.g. Ma et al. 2002b; spectrum in mid frequency domain results from glacier
Choi et al., 2004; Hong et al., 2004; Asanuma et al., wind on the outer layer. The uw co-spectra and T w
2005; Li et al., 2006a). However, further scrutiny of co-spectra is minus in the mid and high frequency due
turbulence data from different heights and (co)spectra to downward moment flux and heat flux respectively
analysis revealed a) height dependence of the turbulent (e.g. Liu et al., 2007).
statistics of vertical wind velocity; b) a spectral gap with 3. The normalized deviation of 3-D wind speed and tem-
the absence of k −1 power law in mid frequencies in the perature and specific humidity agree with the literature
spectra of lateral wind velocity; and c) the deviation of (e.g. Wang and Mitsuta, 1991) over the Mt. Everest area.
heat flux co-spectra in low frequencies from Monin- In neutral condition, relations between non-dimensional
Obukhov theory (e.g. Choi et al., 2004; Hong et al., wind speed components and z/L follow the “1/3 power
2004; Asanuma et al., 2005). It means that the turbulent law” (Monin and Obukhov, 1954), but the coefficients
observation height and surrounding environment have are different from those in other place (e.g. Li et al.,
impact on the spectra of wind velocity and heat flux co- 2006a) in the Tibetan Plateau due to its special terrains
spectra. These results not only provide the evidence of (e.g. Zhong et al., 2006; Liu et al., 2007; Zhong et al.,
interactions between active and inactive turbulence but 2007a).
also shed light on different views on the fundamental
mechanism of such interactions in the atmospheric sur-
face layer.

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1110 Y. Ma et al.: Study of atmosphere-land interaction observations on the Tibetan Plateau

5 Concluding remarks Ishikawa, H., Tanaka, K., Oku, Y., Ma, Y., Hu, Z., Li, M., and
Ma, W.: Surface flux estimation using in situ measurement, Adv.
In this paper, the Tibetan Observation and Research Plat- Earth Sci., 21(12), 1237–1243, 2006.
form (TORP) is introduced and some preliminary observa- Li, M., Ma, Y., Ma, W., Hu, Z., Ishikawa, H., Su, Z., and Sun, F.:
tional results, such as the characteristics of land surface heat Analysis of turbulence characteristics over the northern Tibetan
Plateau area, Adv. Atmos. Sci., 23(4), 579–585, 2006a.
fluxes and CO2 flux partitioning (diurnal variation and inter-
Li, M., Ma, Y., Zhong, L., and Lu, S.: Preliminary analysis on
monthly variation etc.), the characteristics of atmospheric near surface radiation budget in the region of Mt. Qomolangma
and soil variables, the ABL structure and the turbulent char- in April and May 2005, Plateau Meteorology, 25(6), 1008–1013,
acteristics have also been shown by using the in-situ data ob- 2006b.
served from TORP. Li, M., Dai, Y., Ma, Y., Zhong, L., and Lu, S.: Analysis on struc-
All analysis and results shown in this paper is just prelimi- ture of atmospheric boundary layer and energy exchange of sur-
nary. In order to understand the impact of the Tibetan Plateau face layer over mount Qomolangma region, Plateau Meteorol-
on the weather forecast and climatic change prediction over ogy, 25(5), 807–813, 2006c.
China, eastern Asia and even the globe, the deep in-situ data Li, M., Ma, Y., Ishikawa, H., Ma, W., Sun, F., Wang, Y., and Zhu,
analysis has to be done in the future research. Z.: Characteristics of micrometeorological elements near surface
and soil on the northern slope of Mt. Qomolangma area, Plateau
All the results in this paper are acquired from the datasets Meteorology, 26(6), 1263–1268, 2007.
observed in the Tibetan Plateau. In order to extend them to a Li, M., Ma, Y., Wang, Y., Sun, L., Zhao, Y., and Lu, Y.: Charac-
broader perspective, the results gotten in the Tibetan Plateau teristics of micrometeorology and exchange of surface energy in
have to be compared to those over similar landscape types, the Namco region, Plateau Meteorology, 27(4), 727–732, 2008.
i.e. arctic, sub-arctic and alpine etc. All these researches will Liu, H., Feng, J., Zou, H., and Li, A.: Turbulent Characteristics
have to be done by using the in-situ data observed from the of the Surface Layer in Rongbuk Valley on the Northern Slope
TORP in the days to come. of Mt. Qomolangma., Plateau Meteorology, 26(6), 1151–1161,
2007.
Ma, W. and Ma, Y.: The annual variations on land surface energy
Acknowledgements. This paper was under the auspices of the Na-
in the northern Tibetan Plateau, Environ. Geol., 50, 645–650,
tional Natural Science Foundation of China (40825015), Innovation
doi:10.1007/s00254-006-0238-9, 2006.
Projects of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-Q11-
Ma, W., Dai, Y., Ma, Y., Sun, F., Li, M., Zhong, L., and Wang, Y.:
01), the Chinese National Key Programme for Developing Basic
Seasonal variations of land surface radiation budget and energy
Sciences (2005CB422003), EU-FP7 project “CEOP-AEGIS”
on northern slope of [Link] area, Plateau Meteorology,
(212921). The authors thank all the colleagues for their very hard
26(6), 1237–1243, 2007.
work in the construction and the field work of the TORP.
Ma, Y. and Tsukamoto, O.: Combining satellite remote sensing
with field observations for land surface heat fluxes over inhomo-
Edited by: Z. Su
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172 pp., 2002.
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