Glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are reliable water sources for Asia. Continuously high-resolution and high-accuracy long-term glacier fluctuations have been examined to improve the reliability of predictions regarding future TP glacier behavior under global climate change. In this study, we analyzed physiochemical parameters in typical glaciolacustrine sediments to reconstruct multidecadal activities of the monsoonal Qiangyong Glacier over the past ~2500 years. The results show that the glacier advanced most strongly during 560 BC–AD 100, followed by AD 1050–1850 and AD 600–850. It retreated most severely during AD 1850–present, followed by AD 100–600 and AD 850–1050. This continuous record corresponds well with changes in the temperature and regional precipitation before the Current Warm Period, exhibiting “warm-humid-retreat” and “cold-dry-advance” patterns. This indicates that temperature changes, rather than precipitation variations, control the monsoonal glaciers at the southern TP at multidecadal to centennial scales. As global warming continues, although the precipitation on the southern TP is projected to increase, the mass loss of TP monsoonal glaciers is expected to continue.

青藏高原上的冰川是亚洲可靠的水源。为了提高关于全球气候变化下未来TP冰川行为的预测的可靠性，研究了持续不断的高分辨率和高精度长期冰川波动。在这项研究中，我们分析了典型的冰川湖沉积物中的理化参数，以重建过去约2500年的季风前宫冰川的多年代活动。结果表明，在公元前560年至公元100年，冰川发展最为迅速，其次是公元1050年至1850年和公元600年至850年。它在公元1850年至今退缩最严重，其次是公元100-600年和公元850-1050年。这一连续记录与当前暖期之前温度和区域降水的变化非常吻合，展示“暖湿退”和“冷干提前”模式。这表明温度变化而不是降水变化控制了TP南部的季风冰川在数十到百年尺度。随着全球变暖的继续，尽管预计南部TP的降水量会增加，但TP季风冰川的质量损失仍将继续。