Figure 1.
The elevation/temperature contours are projected on the projection layer and get a series of Temperature Zones (e.g., Sn-1, Sn, Sn+1, …).
Figure 2.
The relationship between the temperature zone (Sn) and the elevation (hn) in Temperature zone - Elevation Model (TEM).
Clearly, they are the linear relationship as hn increases, the area of temperature zone Sn decreases correspondingly.
Figure 3.
The curves of standard normal distribution f(x)∼N(0,12) (the blue) and f(h)∼N(μ,σ2) (the red).
It is much peaked with smaller σ under the same μ.
Figure 4.
The total area of temperature zones below the Zero Isotherm (St<0°C) shrinks and the total area of temperature zones above the Zero Isotherm (St>0°C) increases under global warming.
Figure 5.
The moved curve of the normal distribution of temperature zones under climate change.
If the climate is warming, then the St<0°C getting shrunk and the St>0°C getting raised and the curve will move towards the positive X-axis (the red), and when the climate is getting cold it will move towards the negative X-axis (the blue).
Figure 6.
The location of the study area of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) in China.
Figure 7.
The relationship between the rasterized temperature (Rasterized T) and the observation temperature (Recorded T) in the 82 meteorological stations on the TP in 2000, 2005 and 2010.
(The other years are similar to them and have not been listed).
Figure 8.
The distribution pattern of the elevations in the TP and their statistical numbers.
It can be proved that it manifests a skew-normal distribution with a steep kurtosis.
Figure 9.
The distributions and changes of the 2°C interval annual mean temperature zones in the characteristic years.
Figure 10.
The changes of temperature zones in the TP in the past 50 years classified by 0°C annual mean temperature zone.
The areas below 0°C (on the top of the TP) were getting shrunk, whereas the areas above 0°C (on the bottom of the TP) were getting extended over the study period.
Figure 11.
The areas of each 2°C annual mean temperature zones in every 5-year intervals.
Figure 12.
The total areas of each cumulative temperature zones within different ranges in every 5-year interval.
Figure 13.
The distribution of the temperature zones in the TP in the characteristic years from 1961 to 2010 under the same categorizing criteria.
Figure 14.
The change of the −6°C temperature zone in the TP in the characteristic years from 1961 to 2010.
Figure 15.
The mean elevations of each temperature zones in the characteristic years.
The blue belt is the mean range of snowline/ELA of glaciers in the TP. The range is about 4200–5200 m asl. on average.
Figure 16.
The average warming trends over the past 20, 30 and 50 years in different elevation zones in the TP and its surroundings.
Figure 17.
The mean linear warming trends of different seasons in each of the 500-m interval elevation zones during the period 1961–2010 in the TP and its surroundings.
Figure 18.
The monthly mean linear warming trends of the 2000-m intervals during the period 1961–2010 in the TP and its surroundings.
Figure 19.
The mean warming trends of every elevation zones.
The zones were divided by a 250-m interval based on the 144 meteorological stations in the TP and its surroundings during the period 1961–2010. The labels of the horizontal axis are the numbers of meteorological stations.