**5. Conclusions**

The spatio-temporal variation characteristics of snow disasters on the QTP over the past 40 years were investigated based on the daily snow depth data set in China obtained by the inversion of the satellite remote sensing data provided by the national TPDC. The results show that the frequency, duration, average snow depth, and grade of snow disaster had similar spatial distributions, being low in the north while high in the south. The high-value center in the north is mainly located in Kashgar–Kizilsu Kirgiz at the north-western end of the QTP, which is the zone with the most numerous heavy snow disasters and the highest frequency of snow disaster on the plateau. The high-value center in the south has a tripole distribution pattern, and the three "poles" are located in Lhoka–Nyingchi– Nujiang–Diqing–southern Garzê in the south-east, western Shigatse in the south, and Yushu in the hinterland of the plateau. It can be seen from the interannual and interdecadal variations in the frequency, duration, average snow depth, and grade of snow disaster on the QTP over the past 40 years that various indices all have obvious interannual and interdecadal variabilities. Meanwhile, the long-term variations of various indices also showed a decreasing trend despite certain spatio-temporal differences. On this basis, geographic information system (GIS) technology was used to zone the comprehensive risk of snow disasters on the QTP. The results indicated that the high-risk zone accounts for 1.54% of the plateau, mainly in Kashgar at the north-western end of the plateau. The subhigh-risk and medium-risk zones are located in the south of the plateau and are distributed in a tripole pattern, separately covering 15.96% and 16.32% of the QTP. The north of the QTP is dominated by low-risk and sub-low-risk zones, which separately account for 43.06% and 23.12% of the plateau. Finally, five typical regions, Kashgar (I), Shigatse (II), Nagqu (III), Qamdo (IV), and Yushu (V), were selected to discuss the possible influences of snow disasters on FPWB since the 21st century. The results implied that every 1% increase in the risk of snow disasters corresponded to 0.186%, 0.768%, 0.378%, 0.109%, and 0.03% decreases in the FPWB. Snow disasters affect the FPWB mainly by directly and indirectly damaging material resources (livestock inventories and meat production) and social and financial resources.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.L., Y.Z. (Yufang Zhang) and X.D.; Structure and methodology, J.L., Y.Z. (Yujia Zou) and Y.Z. (Yufang Zhang); Data and software, J.L. and S.S.; Formal analysis and original writing, J.L. and S.S.; Funding acquisition, Y.Z. (Yufang Zhang). All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research (STEP) program (no. 2019QZKK0608 and 2019QZKK0103).

**Data Availability Statement:** The snow depth long time-series data set in China (1979–2019) was provided by National Tibetan Plateau Data Center (http://data.tpdc.ac.cn, accessed on 21 June 2020). The other data generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding authors.

**Acknowledgments:** We also want to appreciate the support from China Scholarship Council. **Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
