A comprehensive dataset of microbial abundance, dissolved organic carbon, and nitrogen in Tibetan Plateau glaciers
Glaciers are recognized as a biome dominated by microorganisms and a reservoir of organic carbon and nutrients. Global warming remarkably increases glacier melting and runoff, which has a significant impact on the carbon and nitrogen cycle of downstream ecosystems. The Tibetan Plateau (TP), dubbed “...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2022-10 https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2022-10/ |
| Summary: | Glaciers are recognized as a biome dominated by microorganisms and a reservoir of organic carbon and nutrients. Global warming remarkably increases glacier melting and runoff, which has a significant impact on the carbon and nitrogen cycle of downstream ecosystems. The Tibetan Plateau (TP), dubbed “the water tower of Asia”, owns the largest mountain glacial area at mid- and low-latitudes. However, limited data of microbial abundance, organic carbon, and nitrogen in TP glaciers have been reported, which severely hinders our understanding of the regional carbon and nitrogen cycle. This work constructed a new dataset on microbial abundance, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and total nitrogen (TN) for TP glaciers. In this dataset, there are 5,409 records from 12 glaciers for microbial abundance of ice cores and snow pits, and there are 2,556 records from 40 glaciers for DOC and TN of five habitats, including ice core, snow pit, surface ice, surface snow, and proglacial runoff. These glaciers cover diverse geographic and climatic regions, where the multiyear average temperature range from −13.4 °C to 2.9 °C and the multiyear average precipitation range from 76.9 mm to 927.8 mm. This makes the constructed dataset qualified for large-scale researches across the TP. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first dataset of microbial abundance and TN in TP glaciers and also the first dataset of DOC in ice cores on the TP. This new dataset provides important information for the studies on carbon and nitrogen cycle in glacial ecosystems, especially for the assessment of potential impacts of glacier retreat on downstream ecosystems under global warming. The datasets are available from the National Tibetan Plateau/Third Pole Environment Data Center ( https://doi.org/10.11888/Cryos.tpdc.271841 , Liu, 2021). |
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