Dubbed by some "the Third Pole," the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau rises from the middle-low latitudes to a critical height that blocks the southwesterly monsoon and cold air from going down south-ward and the warm moist air flow from the Indian Ocean from going up northward, thus allowing monsoon to appear regularly on the plateau.

This has given rise to a varied highland environment. With the changes in climate, snow-capped mountains and glaciers have developed and wetlands have formed, and there is a clear vertical distribution of climate. With the alternating of cold and warm air currents, the sun and the atmosphere have reduced exposed rocks to dust, which is pushed by the plateau monsoon down eastward to the vast loess plateau, resulting in a new ecosystem.

The tectonic movement of the plateau resulted in Asia's topography tipping from west to east, with most of the mountain ranges, gullies and rivers running from west to east. So when the Yellow River cut a gorge through the mountains at Longyang, the Qinghai Lake became a landlocked lake, and the Qaidam and Hehuang basins were separated; at the same time it created a special natural landscape on the highland and around the Tarim and the Sichuan basins.

Both the Qinghai Plateau and the Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve area experienced six glacial periods and alternating cycles of cold, warm, dry and cold conditions, bringing about a transition from sub-tropical climate to cool semi-arid and to frigid and arid climate. The annual mean temperature varies greatly from location to location in the reserve area. The annual mean temperature of the warmest place, Qiannang County in Yushu is 4℃; that of the coldest place Wudaoliang at Hoh Xil is -7.5℃. Warm moist air comes from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea and precipitation diminishes from southeast to northwest. Jiuzhi County has the greatest annual precipitation (760mm); the least (250mm) is registered in Hoh Xil, mostly concentrated into the summer months. This unique climatic cycle and precipitation circulating system has a direct beating on the precipitation of central-south China and Asia as a whole, Because of global warming, the sunshine here has become stronger and winds have grown in force. The changes in the sun irradiation have caused greater evaporation, gradually resulting in the retreat of plant life, worsening drought and exacerbating desertification.

The whole al pine ecosystem has become very fragile, The snow line has retreated the glaciers have shrunk; the number of lakes has been reduced; flow in the upper reaches of the Yellow River has been interrupted  on occasion; the normal pattern of surface water in the river source area has changed: and overall water supply capacity has fallen. All the things will have a great impact on climatic change in Asia- in the whole world even. Scientists calculated the average monthly energy transmission from the surface of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau into the atmosphere, and the strength of the heat source of the air above the plateau. They discovered changes in the circulating current between the summer half of the year and the winter half, which they call "highland monsoon." This huge circulating current rises and whirls over the plateau, with its descending branches reaching the southern hemisphere. In summer, there is a huge west-east circulating current rising in the plateau, which drops over the Eastern Pacific. This current is so far-reaching as to have a direct influence on atmospheric circulation in the Asia-Pacific region. So, one slight change in the weather on the Qinghai Plateau can affect the climate of all Southeast Asia.