Fig. 1: Impacts of seasonal warming on carbon dynamics and study area.

Net carbon balance in lake sediments in response to warming during a growing season and b non-growing season (NPP: net primary productivity, De: decomposition). Warming during the growing season results in NPP > De, leading to increased carbon accumulation, while warming during the non-growing season enhances De, potentially offsetting NPP, leading to less accumulation of carbon loss. c Study area and published records of branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs), pollen, and TOC on the Tibetan Plateau (Supplementary Tables 1, 2, 3). d Time series and trends of annual surface mean temperature anomalies during 1979–2018 over the Tibetan Plateau (TP-obs)¹⁴ and the global mean¹⁵. The trends that passed the significance test (p < 0.05) in the two-tailed test are marked with double asterisks. e Summer and winter surface mean temperature anomalies (1950–2022) for the Tibetan Plateau, derived from ERA data¹⁵. The trends that passed the significance test (p < 0.05) in the two-tailed test are marked with double asterisks.