Abstract
The effect of vegetation on the water-heat exchange in the freezing-thawing processes of active layer is one of the key issues in the study of land surface processes and in predicting the response of alpine ecosystems to climate change in permafrost regions. In this study, we used the simultaneous heat and water model to investigate the effects of plant canopy on surface and subsurface hydrothermal dynamics in the Fenghuoshan area of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by changing the leaf area index (LAI) and keeping other variables constant. Results showed that the sensible heat, latent heat and net radiation are increased with an increase in the LAI. However, the ground heat flux decreased with an increasing LAI. The annual total evapotranspiration and vegetation transpiration ranged from −16% to 9% and −100% to 15%, respectively, in response to extremes of doubled and zero LAI, respectively. There was a negative feedback between vegetation and the volumetric unfrozen water content at 0.2 m through changing evapotranspiration. The simulation results of soil temperature and moisture suggest that better vegetation conditions are conducive to maintaining the thermal stability of the underlying permafrost, and the advanced initial thawing time and increasing thawing rate of soil ice with the increase in the LAI may have a great influence on the timing and magnitude of supra-permafrost groundwater. This study quantifies the impact of vegetation change on surface and subsurface hydrothermal processes and provides a basic understanding for evaluating the impact of vegetation degradation on the water-heat exchange in permafrost regions under climate change.
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Abbreviations
- Acronym:
-
Description
- LAI:
-
Leaf area index
- R n :
-
Net radiation
- H :
-
Sensible heat
- LE:
-
Latent heat
- G o :
-
Ground heat flux
- E total :
-
Total evaportranspiration
- E trans :
-
Vegetation transpiration
- E soil :
-
Soil evaporation
- θ 0.2 :
-
Volumetric unfrozen water content at 0.2 m
- T soil :
-
Soil temperature
- M soil :
-
Volumetric soil unfrozen water content
- RLC:
-
Ratio of LAI changing
- T ao :
-
The first day when the soil temperature was greater than 0 °C for 7 consecutive days
- T bo :
-
The first day when the soil temperature was less than 0 °C for 7 consecutive days
- ΔT max :
-
The difference between summer ground temperature peak value and initial thawing temperature (0 °C)
- ΔT min :
-
The difference between the initial freezing temperature (0 °C) and the minimum ground temperature at completely frozen period
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Acknowledgement
This study was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 41671015, No. 42071027, No. 41890821).
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Guo, Lm., Chang, J., Xu, Hl. et al. Modelling plant canopy effects on water-heat exchange in the freezing-thawing processes of active layer on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. J. Mt. Sci. 18, 1564–1579 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-020-6335-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-020-6335-5