scholarly journals Response of seasonal soil freeze depth to climate change across China

Author(s):  
Xiaoqing Peng ◽  
Oliver W. Frauenfeld ◽  
Tingjun Zhang ◽  
Kang Wang ◽  
Bin Cao ◽  
...  

Abstract. Abstract. The response of seasonal soil freeze depth to climate change has repercussions for the surface energy and water balance, ecosystems, the carbon cycle, and soil nutrient exchange. In this study, we use data from 845 meteorological stations to investigate the response of variations in soil freeze depth to climate change across China. Observations include daily air temperature, daily soil temperatures at various depths, mean monthly gridded air temperature, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. Results show that soil freeze depth decreased significantly at a rate of −0.18 cm/year, resulting in a net decrease of 8.05 cm over 1967–2012 across China. On the regional scale, soil freeze depth decreases varied between 0.0 and 0.4 cm/year in most parts of China from 1950 to 2009. Combining climatic and non-climatic factors with soil freeze depth, we conclude that air temperature increases are responsible for the decrease in soil seasonal freeze depth during this period. Changes in snow depth and vegetation are negatively correlated with soil freeze depth. These results are important for understanding the soil freeze/thaw dynamics and the impacts of soil freeze depth on ecosystem and hydrological process.

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1059-1073 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoqing Peng ◽  
Tingjun Zhang ◽  
Oliver W. Frauenfeld ◽  
Kang Wang ◽  
Bin Cao ◽  
...  

Abstract. The response of seasonal soil freeze depth to climate change has repercussions for the surface energy and water balance, ecosystems, the carbon cycle, and soil nutrient exchange. Despite its importance, the response of soil freeze depth to climate change is largely unknown. This study employs the Stefan solution and observations from 845 meteorological stations to investigate the response of variations in soil freeze depth to climate change across China. Observations include daily air temperatures, daily soil temperatures at various depths, mean monthly gridded air temperatures, and the normalized difference vegetation index. Results show that soil freeze depth decreased significantly at a rate of −0.18 ± 0.03 cm yr−1, resulting in a net decrease of 8.05 ± 1.5 cm over 1967–2012 across China. On the regional scale, soil freeze depth decreases varied between 0.0 and 0.4 cm yr−1 in most parts of China during 1950–2009. By investigating potential climatic and environmental driving factors of soil freeze depth variability, we find that mean annual air temperature and ground surface temperature, air thawing index, ground surface thawing index, and vegetation growth are all negatively associated with soil freeze depth. Changes in snow depth are not correlated with soil freeze depth. Air and ground surface freezing indices are positively correlated with soil freeze depth. Comparing these potential driving factors of soil freeze depth, we find that freezing index and vegetation growth are more strongly correlated with soil freeze depth, while snow depth is not significant. We conclude that air temperature increases are responsible for the decrease in seasonal freeze depth. These results are important for understanding the soil freeze–thaw dynamics and the impacts of soil freeze depth on ecosystem and hydrological process.


2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Biao Zeng ◽  
Fuguang Zhang ◽  
Taibao Yang ◽  
Jiaguo Qi ◽  
Mihretab G Ghebrezgabher

Alpine sparsely vegetated areas (ASVAs) in mountains are sensitive to climate change and rarely studied. In this study, we focused on the response of ASVA distribution to climate change in the eastern Qilian Mountains (EQLM) from the 1990s to the 2010s. The ASVA distribution ranges in the EQLM during the past three decades were obtained from the Thematic Mapper remote sensing digital images by using the threshold of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and artificial visual interpretation. Results indicated that the ASVA shrank gradually in the EQLM and lost its area by approximately 11.4% from the 1990s to the 2010s. The shrunken ASVA with markedly more area than the expanded one was mainly located at altitudes from 3700 m to 4300 m, which were comparatively lower than the average altitude of the ASVA distribution ranges. This condition led to the low ASVA boundaries in the EQLM moving upwards at a significant velocity of 22 m/decade at the regional scale. This vertical zonal process was modulated by topography-induced differences in local hydrothermal conditions. Thus, the ASVA shrank mainly in its lower parts with mild and sunny slopes. Annual maximum NDVI in the transition zone increased significantly and showed a stronger positive correlation with significantly increasing temperature than insignificant precipitation variations during 1990–2015. The ASVA shrinkage and up-shifting of its boundary were attributed to climate warming, which facilitated the upper part of alpine meadow in the EQLM by releasing the low temperature limitation on vegetation growth.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanying Shao ◽  
Yuqing Zhang ◽  
Xiuqin Wu ◽  
Charles P.-A. Bourque ◽  
Jutao Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract. Desert regions of northern China have always been the most severely affected by climate change, especially in terms of their ecological integrity and social sustainable development. Assessments of dryness in both space and time are central to the development of adaptation strategies to climate change. Earlier studies have identified long-term patterns of dryness in northern China, but these studies have usually been of limited value to land-management planning as they ignore local-to-regional-scale climate features. To identify potential cause-and-effect relationship between aridity and vegetation cover, changes in aridity index (AI) and vegetation cover were tracked with the assistance of a chronological series of surfaces based on the mapping of AI and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and convergent cross mapping. By tracking regional-scale variation in precipitation, air temperature, AI from 1961–2013 (53 years), and vegetation cover dynamics from 1982–2013 (32 years), we show that precipitation increased in approximately 70 % of the greater desert region, including in the Ulanbuh, Tengger, Badain Jaran, Qaidam, Kumtag, Gurbantunggut, and Taklimakan Deserts. This increase was statistically strongest for the Gurbantunggut (p 


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Wang ◽  
Tiancai Zhou ◽  
Peihao Peng

Because the dynamics of phenology in response to climate change may be diverse in different grasslands, quantifying how climate change influences plant growth in different grasslands across northern China should be particularly informative. In this study, we explored the spatiotemporal variation of the phenology (start of the growing season [SOS], peak of the growing season [POS], end of the growing season [EOS], and length of the growing season [LOS]) across China’s grasslands using a dataset of the GIMMS3g normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI, 1985–2010), and determined the effects of the annual mean temperature (AMT) and annual mean precipitation (AMP) on the significantly changed phenology. We found that the SOS, POS, and EOS advanced at the rates of 0.54 days/year, 0.64 days/year, and 0.65 days/year, respectively; the LOS was shortened at a rate of 0.62 days/year across China’s grasslands. Additionally, the AMT combined with the AMP explained the different rates (ER) for the significantly dynamic SOS in the meadow steppe (R2 = 0.26, p = 0.007, ER = 12.65%) and typical steppe (R2 = 0.28, p = 0.005, ER = 32.52%); the EOS in the alpine steppe (R2 = 0.16, p < 0.05, ER = 6.22%); and the LOS in the alpine (R2 = 0.20, p < 0.05, ER = 6.06%), meadow (R2 = 0.18, p < 0.05, ER = 16.69%) and typical (R2 = 0.18, p < 0.05, ER = 19.58%) steppes. Our findings demonstrated that the plant phenology in different grasslands presented discrepant dynamic patterns, highlighting the fact that climate change has played an important role in the variation of the plant phenology across China’s grasslands, and suggested that the variation and relationships between the climatic factors and phenology in different grasslands should be explored further in the future.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Zhao ◽  
Zhongmin Hu ◽  
Qun Guo ◽  
Genan Wu ◽  
Ruru Chen ◽  
...  

AbstractUnderstanding the atmosphere–land surface interaction is crucial for clarifying the responses and feedbacks of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change. However, quantifying the effects of multiple climatic factors to vegetation activities is challenging. Using the geographical detector model (GDM), this study quantifies the relative contributions of climatic factors including precipitation, relative humidity, solar radiation, and air temperature to the interannual variation (IAV) of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in the northern grasslands of China during 2000 to 2016. The results show heterogeneous spatial patterns of determinant climatic factors on the IAV of NDVI. Precipitation and relative humidity jointly controlled the IAV of NDVI, illustrating more explanatory power than solar radiation and air temperature, and accounting for higher proportion of area as the determinant factor in the study region. It is noteworthy that relative humidity, a proxy of atmospheric aridity, is as important as precipitation for the IAV of NDVI. The contribution of climatic factors to the IAV of NDVI varied by vegetation type. Owing to the stronger explanatory power of climatic factors on NDVI variability in temperate grasslands, we conclude that climate variability may exert more influence on temperate grasslands than on alpine grasslands. Our study highlights the importance of the role of atmospheric aridity to vegetation activities in grasslands. We suggest focusing more on the differences between vegetation types when addressing the climate–vegetation relationships at a regional scale.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongzhu Han ◽  
Jianjun Bai ◽  
Gao Ma ◽  
Jianwu Yan

Vegetation phenology is highly sensitive to climate change, and the phenological responses of vegetation to climate factors vary over time and space. Research on the vegetation phenology in different climatic regimes will help clarify the key factors affecting vegetation changes. In this paper, based on a time-series reconstruction of Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data using the Savitzky–Golay filtering method, the phenology parameters of vegetation were extracted, and the Spatio-temporal changes from 2001 to 2016 were analyzed. Moreover, the response characteristics of the vegetation phenology to climate changes, such as changes in temperature, precipitation, and sunshine hours, were discussed. The results showed that the responses of vegetation phenology to climatic factors varied within different climatic regimes and that the Spatio-temporal responses were primarily controlled by the local climatic and topographic conditions. The following were the three key findings. (1) The start of the growing season (SOS) has a regular variation with the latitude, and that in the north is later than that in the south. (2) In arid areas in the north, the SOS is mainly affected by the temperature, and the end of the growing season (EOS) is affected by precipitation, while in humid areas in the south, the SOS is mainly affected by precipitation, and the EOS is affected by the temperature. (3) Human activities play an important role in vegetation phenology changes. These findings would help predict and evaluate the stability of different ecosystems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Faradina Marzukhi ◽  
Nur Nadhirah Rusyda Rosnan ◽  
Md Azlin Md Said

The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between vegetation indices of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and soil nutrient of oil palm plantation at Felcra Nasaruddin Bota in Perak for future sustainable environment. The satellite image was used and processed in the research. By Using NDVI, the vegetation index was obtained which varies from -1 to +1. Then, the soil sample and soil moisture analysis were carried in order to identify the nutrient values of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). A total of seven soil samples were acquired within the oil palm plantation area. A regression model was then made between physical condition of the oil palms and soil nutrients for determining the strength of the relationship. It is hoped that the risk map of oil palm healthiness can be produced for various applications which are related to agricultural plantation.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 1755
Author(s):  
Shuo Wang ◽  
Chenfeng Cui ◽  
Qin Dai

Since the early 2000s, the vegetation cover of the Loess Plateau (LP) has increased significantly, which has been fully recorded. However, the effects on relevant eco-hydrological processes are still unclear. Here, we made an investigation on the changes of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) during 2000–2018 and connected them with vegetation greening and climate change in the LP, based on the remote sensing data with correlation and attribution analysis. Results identified that the average annual ETa on the LP exhibited an obvious increasing trend with the value of 9.11 mm yr−1, and the annual ETa trend was dominated by the changes of ETa in the third quarter (July, August, and September). The future trend of ETa was predicted by the Hurst exponent. Partial correlation analysis indicated that annual ETa variations in 87.8% regions of the LP were controlled by vegetation greening. Multiple regression analysis suggested that the relative contributions of potential evapotranspiration (ETp), precipitation, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), to the trend of ETa were 5.7%, −26.3%, and 61.4%, separately. Vegetation greening has a close relationship with the Grain for Green (GFG) project and acts as an essential driver for the long-term development trend of water consumption on the LP. In this research, the potential conflicts of water demanding between the natural ecosystem and social-economic system in the LP were highlighted, which were caused by the fast vegetation expansion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 587
Author(s):  
Danielle Hamae Yamauchi ◽  
Hans Garcia Garces ◽  
Marcus de Melo Teixeira ◽  
Gabriel Fellipe Barros Rodrigues ◽  
Leila Sabrina Ullmann ◽  
...  

Soil is the principal habitat and reservoir of fungi that act on ecological processes vital for life on Earth. Understanding soil fungal community structures and the patterns of species distribution is crucial, considering climatic change and the increasing anthropic impacts affecting nature. We evaluated the soil fungal diversity in southeastern Brazil, in a transitional region that harbors patches of distinct biomes and ecoregions. The samples originated from eight habitats, namely: semi-deciduous forest, Brazilian savanna, pasture, coffee and sugarcane plantation, abandoned buildings, owls’ and armadillos’ burrows. Forty-four soil samples collected in two periods were evaluated by metagenomic approaches, focusing on the high-throughput DNA sequencing of the ITS2 rDNA region in the Illumina platform. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used for vegetation cover analysis. NDVI values showed a linear relationship with both diversity and richness, reinforcing the importance of a healthy vegetation for the establishment of a diverse and complex fungal community. The owls’ burrows presented a peculiar fungal composition, including high rates of Onygenales, commonly associated with keratinous animal wastes, and Trichosporonales, a group of basidiomycetous yeasts. Levels of organic matter and copper influenced all guild communities analyzed, supporting them as important drivers in shaping the fungal communities’ structures.


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