Thermal effects of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) play an important role in the atmospheric circulation over south Asia, which may have complex implications on the development of regional climate. In the study, we utilized 86 station-based observations (1980–2018) to investigate the variations in sensible heating on the plateau surface and their possible impacts on south Asian atmospheric circulation in terms of the Indian Subtropical High. With 10-year records expansion relative to prior studies, our results suggested the significant increasing trend in regional sensible heat (SH) flux from 2001 to 2018 (0.259 W m^− 2 a^− 1, p < 0.05) contrary to the earlier pronounced decrease (-0.172 W m^− 2 a^− 1, p < 0.05; 1980–2000) especially in cold season. Most (33) of the 35 stations that decreased in cold-season SH flux before the shift year 2000, did not remain such temporal trend after 2000. Totally, there were respectively 44 and 5 stations showing increasing and decreasing trends in cold-season SH flux from 2001 to 2018, in contrast to the corresponding 6 and 35 stations during the period of 1980–2000. Our results also indicated that the later stronger sensible heating from the TP exhibited statistically close correlation (-0.574~-0.445 ^o/(W m^− 2), p < 0.05) with the Indian Subtropical High, which tended to move southerly and shrink. Our study highlighted the possible weakening effect of the TP’s intensifying sensible heating on the atmospheric circulation over south Asia due to climate warming.

青藏高原的热效应在南亚的大气环流中起着重要作用，这可能对区域气候的发展产生复杂的影响。在这项研究中，我们使用了86个基于站的观测值（1980-2018年），以印度副热带高压为基础，研究了高原表面的明显加热变化及其对南亚大气环流的可能影响。与过去的研究相比，有了10年的记录扩展，我们的结果表明，从2001年到2018年，区域显热（SH）通量出现了显着增加的趋势（0.259 W m ^-2 a ^-1，p <0.05），与之前的明显下降相反（-0.172瓦米^-2 a ^-1，p <0.05；1980–2000年），尤其是在寒冷季节。在2000年转变前的35个台站中，冷季SH通量减少的大部分（33个）在2000年之后没有保持这种时间趋势。总共分别有44个和5个台站显示了冷季SH通量的增加和减少趋势。从2001年到2018年的通量，与1980-2000年期间相应的6和35个台站形成对比。我们的结果还表明，TP后来的更强显热表现出统计学上的紧密相关性（-0.574〜-0.445 ^o /（W m ^-2），p <0.05）与印度亚热带高压，往往向南移动并缩小。我们的研究强调了由于气候变暖，TP的显热升高对南亚大气环流的减弱作用。