‘Current warming tends to accelerate, esp. in the high-elevated regions, which respond severely sensitive to global warming.’ concluded researchers of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS.

Led by Prof Kang Shichang, the research team have drilled three shallow ice cores from the origin of the Yangtze River, Geladandong, and succeeded in reconstructing summer temperature variations of the past 70 years. Their discovery was reported by Scientific Times in China.

Accordingly, they found that from 1970 to 2004, regions higher than 5700m a.s.l warmed at a rate of 0.5 °C per decade, the rate obviously higher than that recorded in Geladandong and other meteorological stations in the Northern Hemisphere. From 1990 to 2004, temperature seemed to have increased 1.1 °C per decade, almost doubling that in the 1970s.

Their discovery is consistent with global warming trend, and warns us against accelerating melting glaciers on the Plateau, in particular, those feeding water into big rivers across eastern China.