全球变暖加剧青藏高原湖泊效应

Lake-effect snowfall(LES)occurs when cold air moves across open lakes.LES is expected to occur more frequently over the TP,due to the intensified lake expansion caused by intensified global warming.Thus,there is an urgent need to comprehensively assess the LES over the TP.Here,we revealed that the LES is triggered by westerly southward shift leading to the drop in air temperature and is positively correlated with lake area,wind speed and longitude across 12 large lakes(>300 km^(2))based on satellite observations and reanalysis data.Using a sensitivity model simulation,we determined that large lakes in the southern TP contributed to more than 50%of the snowfall in the downwind area in 2013.Projections indicate that the westerly-triggered LES will increase under the future RCP4.5 climate warming scenario,highlighting the importance of developing adaptive policies to address the growing risks associated with future LES.

Overflow of Siling Co on the central Tibetan Plateau and its environmental impacts

The Tibetan Plateau(TP)and its surroundings are also referred to as“Asian Water Tower”,which is the headwater of ten major rivers in Asia and provides ecosystem service for nearly two billion people[1].The interior TP boasts the greatest concentration of high-latitude inland lakes in the world,providing essential water resources,regulating regional climate and maintaining ecological balance.Over the past 50 years,the TP has experienced rapid climate warming and overall wetting,which has led to glacier mass loss,thawing of permafrost,reduction in snow cover,and shortening of lake ice duration[1].Changes in lake water storage provide a means of assessing the regional hydrological response to recent climate change in this sparsely populated region.

Large lakes over the Tibetan Plateau may boost snow downwind:implications for snow disaster

There are more than 1200 lakes(>1 km2)on the Tibetan Plateau(TP),covering a total area about 47,000 km2.The role of lakes on regional climate is significant because they can regulate regional precipitation distribution[1,2],particularly snow cover[3],through lake-atmosphere interaction.Lakes are also known to act as heat sources during winter due to their different heat capacity with the surrounding land[3].When cold air passes over relatively warm surface of an unfrozen lake,atmospheric instability and vertical motion of air increase,and water vapor from the lake surface is taken up to the air and may be released as lake effect snow(LES)over and/or downwind of the lake[1,3].Thus,snow cover can be initiated or significantly enhanced by this effect.

Different n-6/n-3 PUFA diets with fish oil attenuated osteoarthritis in ovariectomized mice via targeting the NLRP3 inflammasome

Osteoporosis(OP)and osteoarthritis(OA)co-exist with increased inflammatory cytokines as a common feature.Modern diet containing high n-6/n-3 PUFA was suggested contributing to these chronic inflammatory diseases.Although fish oil(FO)rich in n-3 PUFAs has been confirmed beneficial for OA and bone loss in previous studies,whether small amounts of FO could alleviate osteoporotic OA under a high n-6/n-3 PUFA condition has not been reported.In this study,the osteoporotic OA mice were fed with 20:1 or 6:1 n-6/n-3 PUFA diets with or without FO for 12 weeks.The results showed that 20:1 diet with FO ameliorated systemic inflammation and cartilage degradation in model mice,compared to the non-FO 20:1 diet.Specifically,diets with FO altered the fatty acids composition with elevating n-3/n-6 PUFA in articular cartilage,thus restoring the cartilage homeostasis by inhibiting the catabolic process.Mechanistically,20:1 non-FO diet promoted the expression of NLRP3 via PGE2/EP4/NFκB.However,20:1 FO-H diet significantly inhibited the expression of NLRP3 and further exhibited a greater affinity for GPR120 than 20:1 non-FO diet to inactivate caspase-1-dependent NLRP3 inflammasome.As a consequence,20:1 FO-H diet inhibited chondrocyte pyroptosis and followed by the reduction of the two catabolic cytokines:IL-1β and IL-18.Notably,the 20:1 FO-H diet performed as well as the 6:1 non-FO diet,and 6:1 diet with FO could further improve osteoporotic OA in a dose-dependent manner.This study demonstrated that FO could attenuate the adverse effect of 20:1 n-6/n-3 PUFA diet on osteoporotic OA,providing skeletal evidence for healthy diet.