The degradation of permafrost stability in China over the past 30 years is evaluated using a new, high-resolution near-surface air temperature reanalysis dataset. Results show that the permafrost extent clearly decrea...The degradation of permafrost stability in China over the past 30 years is evaluated using a new, high-resolution near-surface air temperature reanalysis dataset. Results show that the permafrost extent clearly decreased by 22% from 1980 to 2010, that is, a loss of 12.68×10^4 km^2. The degradation occurred not only in the transition regions between permafrost and seasonally frozen ground, but also and more importantly, in the interior of the permafrost regions. The deg-radation in the interior of permafrost regions accounted for 87% of the total degraded areas. The degradation occurred mainly during the 1980s to 1990s in the northeast permafrost area and the Qilian Mountains, and during the 1990s to 2000s in most areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau （QTP）. This degradation will have systemic impacts on engineered infra-structures in permafrost regions, the water balance, and the global carbon budget. A more robust physical model should be used to evaluate the permafrost thermal stability at finer resolution in the future.展开更多
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China Projects (No. 41471359)the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 2016375)the Chinese Academy of Sciences Action Plan for West Development Project "Remote Sensing Data Products in the Heihe River Basin: Algorithm Development, Data Products Generation and Application Experiments" (No. KZCX2-XB3-15)
文摘The degradation of permafrost stability in China over the past 30 years is evaluated using a new, high-resolution near-surface air temperature reanalysis dataset. Results show that the permafrost extent clearly decreased by 22% from 1980 to 2010, that is, a loss of 12.68×10^4 km^2. The degradation occurred not only in the transition regions between permafrost and seasonally frozen ground, but also and more importantly, in the interior of the permafrost regions. The deg-radation in the interior of permafrost regions accounted for 87% of the total degraded areas. The degradation occurred mainly during the 1980s to 1990s in the northeast permafrost area and the Qilian Mountains, and during the 1990s to 2000s in most areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau （QTP）. This degradation will have systemic impacts on engineered infra-structures in permafrost regions, the water balance, and the global carbon budget. A more robust physical model should be used to evaluate the permafrost thermal stability at finer resolution in the future.
