Tibetan Plateau (TP) is the highest plateau in the world, and also the source region of several major rivers and supports more than a billion people downstream. Thunderclouds are severe convective synoptic processes and significant contributor to the rainfall over the TP. To better estimate the impact of thundercloud on the hydrological cycle and climatic system, it is necessary to understand the cloud structure and regional variation of thunderstorms over the TP. By using 17-years data of precipitation radar and lightning observations from TRMM satellite, the convective structure of thundercloud over the TP are investigated. Significant differences of thunderclouds in terms of seasonal variation, and convective intensity and structure, are found in eastern, central and western regions of the Plateau (namely ETP, CTP and WTP). From west to east, thundercloud increases in size and intensity. As indicators of thunderstorm intensity, flash rate, ice content, cloud top height and volume convective precipitation rate are all the largest in the ETP, while the average thundercloud frequency is the highest in the CTP. Thunderclouds in different seasons have different capacity of producing lightning with that in June over the ETP being the strongest. In terms of convective structure, the depth and horizontal areas of 20, 30 and 40 dBZ radar echo are the largest over the ETP, and the smallest over the WTP. Although the depth of 40 dBZ echo shows obvious difference among the three subregions, the most remarkable difference among the three subregions is the horizontal area of 40 dBZ radar echo, the value of which over the ETP is about 2.6 times that over the CTP and 4.7 times that over the WTP, respectively.

青藏高原（TP）是世界上海拔最高的高原，也是几条主要河流的源头区，支撑着下游超过10亿人口。雷云是强对流天气过程，是青藏高原降水的重要贡献者。为了更好地估计雷云对水文循环和气候系统的影响，有必要了解青藏高原雷暴的云结构和区域变化。利用17年降水雷达和TRMM卫星闪电观测资料，研究了青藏高原上空雷云的对流结构。高原东、中、西部地区（即ETP、CTP和WTP）的雷云在季节变化、对流强度和结构方面存在显着差异。从西到东，雷云的大小和强度增加。作为雷暴强度的指标，闪速、冰量、云顶高度和体积对流降水率均在东太平洋地区最大，而平均雷云频率在东太平洋地区最高。不同季节的雷云产生闪电的能力不同，ETP以6月份的雷云最强。在对流结构方面，20、30、40 dBZ雷达回波的深度和水平面积在ETP上最大，在WTP上最小。虽然 40 dBZ 回波深度在 3 个分区之间存在明显差异，但 3 个分区之间差异最显着的是 40 dBZ 雷达回波水平面积，其值在 ETP 上约为 CTP 的 2.6 倍，在 CTP 上约为 4.7超过 WTP 的倍数，