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Title: Impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the Yellow River source region, China

Journal Article · · Science of the Total Environment
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [4];  [5];  [2];  [2]
  1. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
  3. China Univ. of Geosciences, Beijing (China)
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. China Meteorological Administration, Beijing (China)
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The Yellow River source region is located in the transition region between permafrost and seasonally frozen ground on the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The region has experienced severe climate change, especially air temperature increases, in past decades. In this study, we employed a geomorphology-based eco-hydrological model (GBEHM) to assess the impacts of climate change on the frozen ground and eco-hydrological processes in the region. Based on a long-term simulation from 1981 to 2015, we found that the areal mean maximum thickness of seasonally frozen ground ranged from 1.1–1.8 m and decreased by 1.2 cm per year. Additionally, the ratio of the permafrost area to the total area decreased by 1.1% per year. These decreasing trends are faster than the average in China because the study area is on the sensitive margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The annual runoff exhibited variations similar to those of the annual precipitation (R2 = 0.85), although the annual evapotranspiration (ET) exhibited an increasing trend (14.3 mm/10 a) similar to that of the annual mean air temperature (0.66 °C/10 a). The runoff coefficient (annual runoff divided by annual precipitation) displayed a decreasing trend because of the increasing ET, and the vegetation responses to climate warming and permafrost degradation were manifested as increases in the leaf area index (LAI) and ET at the start of the growing season. Furthermore, the results showed that changes to the frozen ground depth affected vegetation growth. Notably, a rapid decrease in the frozen ground depth (< - 3.0 cm/a) decreased the topsoil moisture and then decreased the LAI. In conclusion, this study showed that the eco-hydrological processes in the headwater area of the Yellow River have changed because of permafrost degradation, and these changes could further influence the water resources availability in the middle and lower reaches of the basin.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1476585
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1550410
Journal Information:
Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 605-606, Issue C; Related Information: © 2016 Elsevier B.V.; ISSN 0048-9697
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 101 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (11)

Estimating Seasonally Frozen Ground Depth From Historical Climate Data and Site Measurements Using a Bayesian Model journal July 2018
Effect of climate and thaw depth on alpine vegetation variations at different permafrost degrading stages in the Tibetan Plateau, China journal January 2019
Hydrothermal variations in soils resulting from the freezing and thawing processes in the active layer of an alpine grassland in the Qilian Mountains, northeastern Tibetan Plateau journal June 2018
Permafrost and drought regulate vulnerability of Tibetan Plateau grasslands to warming journal May 2018
Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Kailash Sacred Landscape of China journal March 2019
Assessing runoff sensitivities to precipitation and temperature changes under global climate-change scenarios journal July 2018
Using stable isotopes to identify major flow pathways in a permafrost influenced alpine meadow hillslope during summer rainfall period journal December 2019
Mismatch in elevational shifts between satellite observed vegetation greenness and temperature isolines during 2000-2016 on the Tibetan Plateau journal September 2018
Changes in the depths of seasonal freezing and thawing and their effects on vegetation in the Three-River Headwater Region of the Tibetan Plateau journal December 2019
Understanding changes in the water budget driven by climate change in cryospheric‐dominated watershed of the northeast Tibetan Plateau, China journal February 2019
Simulation of soil thermal dynamics using an artificial neural network model for a permafrost alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau journal July 2019

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Distributed eco-hydrological model
Frozen ground
Climate change
Hydrological processes
Yellow River