Impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the Yellow River source region, China
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 geomorph...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt2fs616t6 2024-01-07T09:45:55+01:00 Impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the Yellow River source region, China Qin, Yue Yang, Dawen Gao, Bing Wang, Taihua Chen, Jinsong Chen, Yun Wang, Yuhan Zheng, Guanheng 2017-12-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2fs616t6 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt2fs616t6 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2fs616t6 public Hydrology Atmospheric Sciences Earth Sciences Climate Action Distributed eco-hydrological model Frozen ground Climate change Hydrological processes Yellow River Environmental Sciences article 2017 ftcdlib 2023-12-11T19:07:25Z 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 1.1-1.8m and decreased by 1.2cm 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 (14.3mm/10a) similar to that of the annual mean air temperature (0.66°C/10a). 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 (< -3.0cm/a) decreased the topsoil moisture and then decreased the LAI. 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost University of California: eScholarship |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Hydrology Atmospheric Sciences Earth Sciences Climate Action Distributed eco-hydrological model Frozen ground Climate change Hydrological processes Yellow River Environmental Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Hydrology Atmospheric Sciences Earth Sciences Climate Action Distributed eco-hydrological model Frozen ground Climate change Hydrological processes Yellow River Environmental Sciences 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 |
topic_facet |
Hydrology Atmospheric Sciences Earth Sciences Climate Action Distributed eco-hydrological model Frozen ground Climate change Hydrological processes Yellow River Environmental Sciences |
description |
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 1.1-1.8m and decreased by 1.2cm 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 (14.3mm/10a) similar to that of the annual mean air temperature (0.66°C/10a). 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 (< -3.0cm/a) decreased the topsoil moisture and then decreased the LAI. 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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Qin, Yue Yang, Dawen Gao, Bing Wang, Taihua Chen, Jinsong Chen, Yun Wang, Yuhan Zheng, Guanheng |
author_facet |
Qin, Yue Yang, Dawen Gao, Bing Wang, Taihua Chen, Jinsong Chen, Yun Wang, Yuhan Zheng, Guanheng |
author_sort |
Qin, Yue |
title |
Impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the Yellow River source region, China |
title_short |
Impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the Yellow River source region, China |
title_full |
Impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the Yellow River source region, China |
title_fullStr |
Impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the Yellow River source region, China |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the Yellow River source region, China |
title_sort |
impacts of climate warming on the frozen ground and eco-hydrology in the yellow river source region, china |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2fs616t6 |
genre |
permafrost |
genre_facet |
permafrost |
op_relation |
qt2fs616t6 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2fs616t6 |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1787427578534952960 |