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Increased extreme warming events and the differences in the observed hydrothermal responses of the active layer to these events in China’s permafrost regions

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Abstract

Extreme climate events have exerted strong effects on permafrost environments over the past few decades. The occurrence of extreme warming events during the cold season can alter the hydrothermal dynamics of the active layer. Here, we used meteorological and observational soil hydrothermal data to investigate variations in extreme warming events and their impacts on the hydrothermal regimes of the active layer in three permafrost regions in China. The results indicated that the eight analyzed extreme warming indices showed statistically significant increasing trends with differing rates from 1962 to 2019. Prominent differences existed in the mean values and linear trend magnitudes not only among the three permafrost regions but also among the eight indices. Most recorded high-intensity extreme warming events occurred primarily in the past 15 years (2005–2019). The occurrence times of extreme events and the active layer freeze–thaw process codetermined the influential extents of the extreme events on the active layer hydrothermal conditions at the Tanggula permafrost Monitoring Site. Events that occurred from March to April could cause soil temperature to increase with a greater magnitude than that induced by events occurring from October to November. Different event types could also lead to distinct differences in their corresponding influential extents.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the funding supports from the National Natural Science Foundations of China (42001071; 41771076; 41690142; 41961144021), and the West Light Foundation of The Chinese Academy of Sciences. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request (Tonghua Wu, thuawu@lzb.ac.cn).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cryosphere Research Station on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Xiaofan Zhu, Tonghua Wu, Jie Ni, Xiaodong Wu, Guojie Hu, Xiangfei Li, Amin Wen, Ren Li, Chengpeng Shang & Xin Ma

  2. Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, 511458, China

    Tonghua Wu

  3. College of Geography and Environment Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730070, China

    Shengjie Wang

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jie Ni, Xiangfei Li, Amin Wen, Chengpeng Shang & Xin Ma

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  1. Xiaofan Zhu
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  2. Tonghua Wu
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Zhu, X., Wu, T., Ni, J. et al. Increased extreme warming events and the differences in the observed hydrothermal responses of the active layer to these events in China’s permafrost regions. Clim Dyn 59, 785–804 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06155-x

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