Impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the Yellow River source region, China
Abstract
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 leafmore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
- Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
- China Univ. of Geosciences, Beijing (China)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- China Meteorological Administration, Beijing (China)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1476585
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1550410
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Science of the Total Environment
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 605-606; Journal Issue: C; Related Information: © 2016 Elsevier B.V.; Journal ID: ISSN 0048-9697
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Distributed eco-hydrological model; Frozen ground; Climate change; Hydrological processes; Yellow River
Citation Formats
Qin, Yue, Yang, Dawen, Gao, Bing, Wang, Taihua, Chen, Jinsong, Chen, Yun, Wang, Yuhan, and Zheng, Guanheng. Impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the Yellow River source region, China. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.188.
Qin, Yue, Yang, Dawen, Gao, Bing, Wang, Taihua, Chen, Jinsong, Chen, Yun, Wang, Yuhan, & Zheng, Guanheng. Impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the Yellow River source region, China. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.188
Qin, Yue, Yang, Dawen, Gao, Bing, Wang, Taihua, Chen, Jinsong, Chen, Yun, Wang, Yuhan, and Zheng, Guanheng. Mon .
"Impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the Yellow River source region, China". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.188. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1476585.
@article{osti_1476585,
title = {Impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the Yellow River source region, China},
author = {Qin, Yue and Yang, Dawen and Gao, Bing and Wang, Taihua and Chen, Jinsong and Chen, Yun and Wang, Yuhan and Zheng, Guanheng},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.188},
journal = {Science of the Total Environment},
number = C,
volume = 605-606,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jul 03 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon Jul 03 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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