Impacts of frozen ground degradation and vegetation greening on upper Brahmaputra runoff during 1981–2019
Abstract The Tibetan Plateau (TP) contains the largest permafrost region in the mid–low latitudes and the largest area of glaciers outside of the polar regions. In recent decades, this region has experienced vegetation greening (e.g., increasing leaf area index) due to climate change. As the largest...
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crwiley:10.1002/joc.8057 2024-06-23T07:56:07+00:00 Impacts of frozen ground degradation and vegetation greening on upper Brahmaputra runoff during 1981–2019 Wang, Yuanwei Wang, Lei Zhou, Jing Chai, Chenhao Hu, Zhidan Zhao, Lin Wang, Shengfeng Fan, Mengtian National Natural Science Foundation of China 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.8057 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.8057 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/joc.8057 https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.8057 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor International Journal of Climatology volume 43, issue 8, page 3768-3781 ISSN 0899-8418 1097-0088 journal-article 2023 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.8057 2024-06-06T04:23:42Z Abstract The Tibetan Plateau (TP) contains the largest permafrost region in the mid–low latitudes and the largest area of glaciers outside of the polar regions. In recent decades, this region has experienced vegetation greening (e.g., increasing leaf area index) due to climate change. As the largest exorheic river on the TP, the Upper Brahmaputra Basin (UBB) is very sensitive to climate change, experiencing the humidifying and significant warming. In this study, we investigated the spatiotemporal variability of frozen ground and vegetation over the last four decades in the UBB and explored how these changes have impacted river runoff using a water‐ and energy‐budget distributed hydrological model (WEB‐DHM). We found that almost 50% of permafrost transformed into seasonally frozen or unfrozen ground from 1981 to 2019 with the great improvement of vegetation leaf area index (LAI). Based on the variable‐controlling approach (set the air temperature or vegetation unchanged), we revealed that frozen ground degradation caused an average of 9.3 billion m 3 of water loss per year, accounting for 5.4% of total UBB river runoff, even if frozen ground degradation can increase water resources at the early stage. However, vegetation greening has caused a runoff decline by 10.9 billion m 3 (6.4%) annually due to enhanced evapotranspiration. These findings highlight that it is critical to understand and mitigate the impacts of changing frozen ground and vegetation, when managing water resources availability and ecosystem conservation under rapid climate change. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Wiley Online Library International Journal of Climatology 43 8 3768 3781 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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English |
description |
Abstract The Tibetan Plateau (TP) contains the largest permafrost region in the mid–low latitudes and the largest area of glaciers outside of the polar regions. In recent decades, this region has experienced vegetation greening (e.g., increasing leaf area index) due to climate change. As the largest exorheic river on the TP, the Upper Brahmaputra Basin (UBB) is very sensitive to climate change, experiencing the humidifying and significant warming. In this study, we investigated the spatiotemporal variability of frozen ground and vegetation over the last four decades in the UBB and explored how these changes have impacted river runoff using a water‐ and energy‐budget distributed hydrological model (WEB‐DHM). We found that almost 50% of permafrost transformed into seasonally frozen or unfrozen ground from 1981 to 2019 with the great improvement of vegetation leaf area index (LAI). Based on the variable‐controlling approach (set the air temperature or vegetation unchanged), we revealed that frozen ground degradation caused an average of 9.3 billion m 3 of water loss per year, accounting for 5.4% of total UBB river runoff, even if frozen ground degradation can increase water resources at the early stage. However, vegetation greening has caused a runoff decline by 10.9 billion m 3 (6.4%) annually due to enhanced evapotranspiration. These findings highlight that it is critical to understand and mitigate the impacts of changing frozen ground and vegetation, when managing water resources availability and ecosystem conservation under rapid climate change. |
author2 |
National Natural Science Foundation of China |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wang, Yuanwei Wang, Lei Zhou, Jing Chai, Chenhao Hu, Zhidan Zhao, Lin Wang, Shengfeng Fan, Mengtian |
spellingShingle |
Wang, Yuanwei Wang, Lei Zhou, Jing Chai, Chenhao Hu, Zhidan Zhao, Lin Wang, Shengfeng Fan, Mengtian Impacts of frozen ground degradation and vegetation greening on upper Brahmaputra runoff during 1981–2019 |
author_facet |
Wang, Yuanwei Wang, Lei Zhou, Jing Chai, Chenhao Hu, Zhidan Zhao, Lin Wang, Shengfeng Fan, Mengtian |
author_sort |
Wang, Yuanwei |
title |
Impacts of frozen ground degradation and vegetation greening on upper Brahmaputra runoff during 1981–2019 |
title_short |
Impacts of frozen ground degradation and vegetation greening on upper Brahmaputra runoff during 1981–2019 |
title_full |
Impacts of frozen ground degradation and vegetation greening on upper Brahmaputra runoff during 1981–2019 |
title_fullStr |
Impacts of frozen ground degradation and vegetation greening on upper Brahmaputra runoff during 1981–2019 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impacts of frozen ground degradation and vegetation greening on upper Brahmaputra runoff during 1981–2019 |
title_sort |
impacts of frozen ground degradation and vegetation greening on upper brahmaputra runoff during 1981–2019 |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.8057 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.8057 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/joc.8057 https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.8057 |
genre |
permafrost |
genre_facet |
permafrost |
op_source |
International Journal of Climatology volume 43, issue 8, page 3768-3781 ISSN 0899-8418 1097-0088 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.8057 |
container_title |
International Journal of Climatology |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
3768 |
op_container_end_page |
3781 |
_version_ |
1802649000399077376 |