Abstract

Permafrost collapse can rapidly change regional soil-thermal and hydrological conditions, potentially stimulating production of climate-warming gases. Here, we report on rate and extent of permafrost collapse on the extensive Tibetan Plateau, also known as the Asian Water Tower and the Third Pole. Combined data from in situ measurements, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), manned aerial photographs, and satellite images suggest that permafrost collapse was accelerating across the Eastern Tibetan Plateau. From 1969 to 2017, the area of collapsed permafrost has increased by approximately a factor of 40, with 70% of the collapsed area forming since 2004. These widespread perturbations to the Tibetan Plateau permafrost could trigger changes in local ecosystem state and amplify large-scale permafrost climate feedbacks.

Details

Title
Accelerating permafrost collapse on the eastern Tibetan Plateau
Author
Gao, Tanguang 1 ; Zhang, Yulan 2 ; Kang, Shichang 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Abbott, Benjamin W 3 ; Wang, Xiaoming 4 ; Zhang, Tingjun 1 ; Yi, Shuhua 5 ; Gustafsson, Örjan 6 

1  College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, People’s Republic of China 
2  State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, People’s Republic of China; CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China 
3  Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, United States of America 
4  State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, People’s Republic of China 
5  State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, People’s Republic of China; Institute of Fragile Ecosystem and Environment, School of Geographic Science, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, People’s Republic of China 
6  Department of Environmental Science; The Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
May 2021
Publisher
IOP Publishing
e-ISSN
17489326
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abf7f0
ProQuest document ID
2518769880
Copyright
© 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.