Extreme environmental risk assessment of Tibetan Plateau based on ArcGIS

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau's harsh natural environment poses a significant risk to life, making environmental risk assessment crucial for developing comprehensive risk prevention measures. In order to establish the Extreme Environment Index (EEI) zone for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, a geographically weighted regression model was utilized in this study. Various natural factors, such as altitude, relief degree of the land surface, land cover index, temperature-humidity index, river network density index, human comfort, wind-chill index, and absolute oxygen content, were carefully chosen for analysis. The research findings reveal a range of EEI scores between 0.37 and 4.39 across the Tibetan Plateau, signifying a gradual intensification of environmental extreme conditions from the southeast to the northwest regions. The Changtang plateau stands out as the most environmentally extreme region, covering the largest area on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. This area is characterized by numerous mountains, which contribute significantly to its proportion. On the other hand, the zone with relatively milder environmental extremes encompasses the river valleys along the plateau's periphery and the Hengduan Mountains. Among these areas, the Tibet-South Valley stands out as having the least extreme environmental conditions, occupying the smallest geographical area.