What if the geographic pole were in the Himalayas?

Question

From a climatic point of view, what if Earth went through a radical polar shift that would place the geographical pole right where the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau are? (No matter if southern or northern pole.. let's say southern).

These are some of the driest regions in the world, so I wonder if there would be enough humidity to form an ice sheet. Would that result in a polar cap with a dry area in the middle?

Note that if I’m right the opposite pole would lie somewhere offshore of Chile.

Here's a handy map i did :)

Answer 1

Since it's not too different from the polar position to you had showed us.

Quoting from the article of "XKCD whatif" in question: "The climate on the rotated Earth would depend heavily on the details of ocean and atmospheric heat circulation. We'll guess at some of that, but for now, let's assume this world has extremes which are similar to ours."

This map shows the air movement with horse latitudes with the equator provides moisture from the oceans, which then gathers into rain. Then the water from the rain maintains the tropical fertility of the area. Areas near the equator get seasonal monsoon cycles. Which would be similar to the map provided:

the red areas show where hurricanes might occur.

In temperate zones, they have more variety in weather. They are dominated by the movement of the jet streams, fronts, and on the geography. Climates can be hard to exactly predict completely but you'll get the picture when you test it out yourself. But at least this likely the closest map I could get to the Himalayas being the north pole/south pole.

I take no credit for any of this information, I just thought I'd share it since it can help explain some things.

Answer 2

Dry-ness won't stay the same due to differing wind cycles

The Earth, due to its rotation, generally has three 'cells' of circulating air. The Hadley cell, Mid-latitude cell, and Polar cell. Due to the patterns of rising and falling air, these cells cause the same general climate patterns to emerge around the Earth (assisted in large part by oceanic currents). I'll describe some of the general effects briefly.

The Hadley cell generally causes wet conditions at the equator and dry conditions at 30 degrees. You can see this on each continent with the tropical rainforests near the equator and the worldwide bands of desert around 30 N and S.

The Mid-latitude cell generally features Mediterranean climates (wet winters, dry summers) on West coasts of continents at lower latitudes, but cool wet climates on West coasts at higher latitudes. Examples are Spain vs. England; Los Angeles vs. Seattle; Santiago vs. Valdivia in Chile. The East coasts of continents in the Mid-latitude cell are generally much hotter and wetter in the summer. Compare the summer conditions of San Francisco and Washington DC, or Lisbon and Seoul.

The Polar cell is generally devoid of moisture. Rainfall north of 60 degrees is generally very low; for example look at Yakutsk, Russia or Barrow, Alaska.

Conclusion

The polar ice caps are dry! In fact, Barrow is significantly drier than Tibet. Yet it still snows there every month of the year, and sees almost a meter of snow a year. Antarctica is drier still, and has miles of ice in places.

All in all, your poles are going to be dry, but as long as they are cold enough, they are going to develop ice caps over time.

Answer 3

Such a shift would dramatically change Earth's climate and ocean currents... so it's very difficult to predict if -and how fast- a new ice cap would appear.

One thing you should really think about is ocean currents. Antarctica is extremely cold because it's surrounded by cold water. The antarctic circumpolar current is a permanent cold stream around Antarctica's landmass, and it prevents hot water from reaching the land, and warming it.

In your example, such a circumpolar current should not appear. A warm current may even come from the Indian Ocean and have an impact on your new polar region. See how the Gulf Stream is warming Scandinavia...

So, there should be ice in the mountains, but it's hard to say how far it would expand, and if it will cover Taklamakan desert. It depends on the new climate this polar shift will create on Earth... A new ice age ? A new warm age ? It's up to you.