Chinese scientists have discovered that pollen flow can be an indicator of the Asian summer monsoon’s intensity and flow direction above the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. 

The scientists studied a dataset of the surface pollen on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and found that the spatial distribution trend of the exotic tree pollen’s relative abundance is highly coupled with the path of the Asian summer monsoon and the extent to which it encroached on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. 

Their recent study paper which was published in Earth-Science Reviews journal said that the exotic tree pollen deposition on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was transmitted by the Asian summer monsoon. 

If a similar scenario occurred at different stages of the Asian summer monsoon evolution and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau uplift, the scientists believed that the pollen buried in the sediment could reflect the direction and intensity of the Asian summer monsoon at that time. 

Furthermore, the scientists have confirmed that the surface pollen can reflect the condition of alpine meadows, steppe and desert vegetation on the Qinghai-Tibet. (Xinhua)