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Thermodynamic and liquid water profiles can be retrieved by a ground-based microwave radiometer (MWR) in nearly all weather conditions, which is useful for detecting mesoscale phenomena. This paper reviews the advances in remote sensing of atmospheric profiles and cloud properties by MWR in central China. Comparative studies indicate that MWR retrieval accuracy is different under various skies, especially those that decay under precipitation. The off-zenith method is proven to be capable of reducing the impact of precipitation and snow on MWR retrieval accuracy. Application studies demonstrate that MWR retrievals are helpful for early warning of rainstorms, hailstorms, and thunderstorms. Moreover, MWR retrievals provide a way to study cloud properties. The temporal variations of cloud occurrence frequency (COF) and liquid water path (LWP) are different for low, middle, and high clouds, and the vertical distribution of COF is also different in autumn and other seasons. Note that MWR can infer valid retrievals over the eastern Tibetan Plateau due to the weak precipitation over there. Also, cloud properties over the eastern Tibetan Plateau present differences from those over central China, and this is related to the different characteristics of atmospheric water vapor between these two regions. To bring more benefits for mechanism study and early warning of severe weather and numerical weather prediction, the decayed accuracy of MWR zenith retrievals under precipitation should be resolved. And combining MWR with other instruments is necessary for MWR application in detecting multi-layer clouds and ice clouds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates lake level variations over two small and adjacent lakes in the Tibetan plateau (TP), namely Gemang Co and Zhangnai Co, as well as the inland Dianchi Lake in China using CryoSat-2 SARIn-mode and LRM 20-Hz waveforms over the period of 2011–2018. Different retrackers and a dedicated data editing procedure have been used to process CryoSat-2 data for determining the lake level time series. The lake level estimations are indirectly validated against those from Jason-2 in TP and from in situ data in Dianchi Lake, both showing good agreement with strong correlation coefficients >0.74. The results of this paper suggest that the official ICE retracker for LRM data and APD-PPT retracker for SARIn-mode waveforms are the most appropriate retrackers over Dianchi Lake and TP lakes, respectively. The trend estimates of the time series derived by both retrackers are 61.0 ± 10.8 mm/yr for Gemang Co and Zhangnai Co in TP, and 30.9 ± 64.9 mm/yr for Dianchi Lake, indicating that the lake levels over three lakes were continuously rising over the study period. The results of this study show that CryoSat-2 SARIn-mode data can be used for monitoring many small lakes that have not been measured by other altimetry missions in TP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large areas of the Tibetan plateau are only covered by a sparse network of ground snow sampling stations, while the snow cover is highly heterogeneously distributed due to wind, topography etc. Nevertheless, the snow accumulation and spatial patterns play an important role in the hydrological cycle. It releases moisture during the dry spring period before the onset of the monsoon season. Widely used MODIS snow cover products have been available globally since 2002. The understanding of the temporal and spatial distribution of snow cover in a given region calls for a comprehensive data representation method. In this paper a method to visualize both spatial and temporal aspects of snow cover distribution from MODIS 8-day composite data is presented. It is based on RGB display of the snow cover data which is grouped according to season. The RGB syntheses of snow cover distribution (RSD) were generated for the Nam Co Basin in the central part of the Tibetan Plateau during the years of 2002-2009. An alternating pattern of monsoon and autumn snow cover was identified in the western part of the basin which corresponds to the biennial character of the variations of the Indian monsoon. Monsoon snow cover was found in RSD images for the years 2002, 2004 and 2008 whereas in years 2003 and 2009 the autumn snow cover is dominant. The eastern part of the basin does not follow this general pattern since it is affected by the so called ?lake effect?, which is a snow fall induced by the passing of dry and cold westerlies over the lake surface during the winter months. The years 2002, 2006 and 2007 were identified as years with a particularly strong lake effect from the RSD images. Areas with permanent snow cover and areas that were snow free were both found to be relatively stable. Comparison of the lake effect at Nam Co with nearby Siling Co, where the lake effect is smaller or absent, suggests that the presence of an effective barrier on the opposite side of the lake is a prerequisite for the occurrence of the strong lake effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]