Greenhouse gas released from the deep permafrost in the northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

“…Thus, the timing of the thaw date advances and the number of thawing days increases, as shown in this study, which prolongs the growing season. As part of this process, an increase in active layer depth likely leads to an increase in organic matter decomposition and hence nutrient availability, which then also leads to an increase in greening (Fisher et al, ; Mu et al, ; Walz et al, ; Wang et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Northern Hemisphere Greening in Association With Warming Permafrost

et al. 2020

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Vegetation is closely tied to climate change, hydrological processes, the carbon cycle, and the energy balance. However, in cold regions, both climate and vegetation changes are also closely coupled to permafrost. The association between amplified warming and greening in Northern Hemisphere permafrost regions is not clearly understood. We therefore produce an extended 1982-2015 normalized difference vegetation index record based on concatenated Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies and Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data to quantify the spatiotemporal patterns of vegetation variability. We also establish spatiotemporal permafrost warming patterns based on a thawing index, active layer thickness, soil temperature, the first thaw date, and thawing days. Next, we establish the association between vegetation and warming permafrost. We find that normalized difference vegetation index increases in approximately 70% of Northern Hemisphere permafrost regions during the growing season (April-October) and in 72% of the region during autumn. Warming permafrost shows a positive relationship with greening. A higher thawing index, greater active layer thickness, higher soil temperature, and also increased precipitation are linked with the observed greening. An earlier first thaw date and an increased number of thawing days also correlate with vegetation greening. These findings underscore the sensitivity of vegetation to warming permafrost. Continued permafrost warming will result in further greening of Northern Hemisphere cold regions (and vice versa), with important implications for the permafrost soil-vegetation-atmosphere carbon cycles, and the water, nutrient, and energy budgets.

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“…However, some soil culture experiments showed that the main factor that increased carbon emission in frozen soil was temperature rise, and the relationship between carbon emission and soil depth was not obvious. Therefore, future warming would lead to an increase in carbon emissions from the entire soil layer [80]. On the contrary, the same infrared heating experiment on frozen soil predicted that the plateau frozen soil would become a carbon sink in the future because the gross ecosystem production (GEP) brought by warming was higher than that of the ecosystem respiration (ER) [70].…”

Section: Whether To Consider Frozen Soil Experimental Scenario Main Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon Balance of Grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau under Future Climate Change: A Review

et al. 2020

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Climate change has brought significant impacts upon the natural ecological environment and human social development. The future carbon balance study has become an important part of research on the impacts of climate change. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) is a key area for studying climate change. Grassland, as a typical ecosystem of the QTP, embodies the sensitivity of the plateau to the climatic environment, so the carbon balance of grassland under future climate change conditions is important for studying global change. This paper reviewed the literature on carbon balance projection of grassland on the QTP under climate change. Two types of research methods were used to analyze and discuss the studies’ results, including experimental scenario projection and model projection. The experiment projected that appropriate temperature and moisture could enhance the carbon sink capacity of a grassland ecosystem, where moisture played a leading role. The model projection results showed that the carbon balance under different spatial and temporal scales were different. Although both can project the carbon balance of the study area, there are still some uncertainties. In addition, this research area should also consider the influence of human activity and plateau pikas to more accurately project the future carbon balance.

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Greenhouse gas released from the deep permafrost in the northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 28 publications

References 51 publications

Characteristic, changes and impacts of permafrost on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Characteristic, changes and impacts of permafrost on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Northern Hemisphere Greening in Association With Warming Permafrost

Carbon Balance of Grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau under Future Climate Change: A Review

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