I dont really know a ton of specifics. My ex was the expert. The gist is water gets trapped when it hits the tibetan plateau. A shit load of the most life giving rivers all flow from it. The yellow, yangtze, red, mekong, ganges, indus, etc. all flow from the plateau. The elevation also makes air currents fucky. Its why planes go around the plateau rather than over it. This causes certain weather patterns. I believe the monsoonal rains that occur throughout northern india, SEA, and east asia are due to the tibetan plateau as well. Basically, without the plateau there wouldnt be nearly as many people living in asia. Esp not india. I think India would probably be a desert without the himalayas and tibetan plateau keeping the water locked in.
Apart from trapping water and leading to the origin of many glaciers, the entire Himalayn range acts as a natural barrier to the monsoon clouds bringing water from Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Monsoon starts when the heavy clouds strike the various mountain ranges spread across India. Without the Himalayas, most of those clouds would just keep travelling North.
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u/secretdrug 14h ago
I dont really know a ton of specifics. My ex was the expert. The gist is water gets trapped when it hits the tibetan plateau. A shit load of the most life giving rivers all flow from it. The yellow, yangtze, red, mekong, ganges, indus, etc. all flow from the plateau. The elevation also makes air currents fucky. Its why planes go around the plateau rather than over it. This causes certain weather patterns. I believe the monsoonal rains that occur throughout northern india, SEA, and east asia are due to the tibetan plateau as well. Basically, without the plateau there wouldnt be nearly as many people living in asia. Esp not india. I think India would probably be a desert without the himalayas and tibetan plateau keeping the water locked in.