Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis and the related Principal Components (PC) analysis are used to extract valuable vegetation cover derived information from the National Oceanic and Atmos- pheric Administration (NOAA-AVHRR)'s Leaf Area Index (LAI) satellite images. Results suggest that from 1982 to 2000 global climate change has contributed to an increase in vegetation cover in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The correlation between rainfall and LAI EOF PC1 and PC2 indicates that rainfall is the major climatic factor influencing interannual variations of average vegetation cover throughout the entire Plateau. However, annual mean vegetation cover trends in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are mainly out of phase with air temperature increasing, which is primarily responsible for nonsynchro- nous changes of vegetation cover. In the southern ridge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, recent warming trends contribute to humid weather and favorable conditions for vegetation growth. By contrast, higher temperatures have led to arid conditions and insufficient rainfall in the northern part of the Plateau, leading to drought and other climatic conditions which are not conducive to increased vegetation cover.
Land surface changes effect the regional climate due to the complex coupling of land-atmosphere interactions. From 1995 to 2000, a decrease in the vegetation density and an increase in ground-level thermodynamic activity has been documented by multiple data sources in Northwest China, including meteorological, reanalysis from European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts （ECMWF）, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration＇s （NOAA） Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer （AVHRR） and TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder （TOVS） satellite remote sensing data. As the ground-level thermodynamic activity increases, humid air from the surrounding regions converge toward desert （and semi-desert） regions, causing areas with high vegetation cover to become gradually more arid. Furthermore, land surface changes in Northwest China are responsible for a decrease in total cloud cover, a decline in the fraction of low and middle clouds, an increase in high cloud cover （due to thermodynamic activity） and other regional climatic adaptations. It is proposed that, beginning in 1995, these cloud cover changes contributed to a ＂green- house＂ effect, leading to the rapid air temperature increases and other regional climate impacts that have been observed over Northwest China.
