RESEARCH ON THE VARIATIONS OF SNOW COVER OVER THE TIBETAN PLATEAU AND ITS RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Snow cover over Tibetan Plateau (TP) plays an important role in hydrological and energy circulation in many Asian river basins. The paper aims to assessing spatial-temporal changes of snow cover over TP and exploring its responses to the climate change during 2001-2011. As the result, statistical negative changes are indicated in the seasonal snow cover fraction variation for three seasons with the decreasing rate: -0.916%/a (spring),-0.005%/a (summer) and -0.050%/a (winter), while positive change is detected for autumn with the increasing rate 0.272%/a. The trend analysis shows 41.19% of TP exhibiting declining trend (1.42% with a significant decline) and 38% of TP indicating increasing trend (1.77% with a significant increase). Also, snow cover fraction shows significant negative correlation with temperature and precipitation in spring, summer and autumn months. In winter, snow cover fraction indicates significant positive correlation with precipitation and not significant negative correlation with temperature at the 0.01 level.