Abstract: In order to understand the crop responses to climate changes in Tibetan during 1980 to 2015, the crop yield, the temperature and precipitation were analyzed with empirical orthogonal function (EOF). Results show that crop yields along Yarlung Zangbo river and in Nyingchi region were sensitive to precipitation and temperature. The most sensitive area of highland barley and spring wheat was in the middle and lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo river. Meanwhile, the most sensitive area of legume crops was found to be in Lhasa and the south-east Tibet. The most sensitive area of rapeseed crop was in Lhasa. Before 1984, the highland barley output was in a relatively low-yield stage. It was in a period of volatility between 1994 and 1999, and turned into a high-yield stage after 2000. The change of highland barley output in this region was in good agreement with the time coefficient corresponding to the first mode of temperature and precipitation EOF, which indicate that the highland barley output had obvious response to climate change, and its sensitivity to temperature was better than that to precipitation.

Key words: Tibet, crop output, climate change, sensitive area, empirical orthogonal function (EOF)