No protection of permafrost due to desertification on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Abstract Desertification of tundra regions may form an escalating cycle with permafrost degradation where more permafrost thaw leads to continued desertification. This traditional viewpoint has been challenged in recent reports that state desertification protects the underlying permafrost. However,...

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Autores principales:	Qingbai Wu, Wenbing Yu, Huijun Jin
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/8d05b6c72c4c482d89d052ebb9ec732a
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:8d05b6c72c4c482d89d052ebb9ec732a
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8d05b6c72c4c482d89d052ebb9ec732a2021-12-02T16:07:45ZNo protection of permafrost due to desertification on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau10.1038/s41598-017-01787-02045-2322https://doaj.org/article/8d05b6c72c4c482d89d052ebb9ec732a2017-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01787-0https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Desertification of tundra regions may form an escalating cycle with permafrost degradation where more permafrost thaw leads to continued desertification. This traditional viewpoint has been challenged in recent reports that state desertification protects the underlying permafrost. However, our measurements of soil temperature from nine sites in the Honglianghe River Basin, interior Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, show that desertification can degrade permafrost. If one compares the permafrost temperatures at sites with thin sand covers (e.g. site Yu-7, permafrost temperature of −0.64 °C; site Yu-6, permafrost temperature of −1.15 °C) with that of site Xie-1 (−0.65 °C, with a 120-cm-thick sand cover), the permafrost temperature is not significantly different. It is clear that a thick sand cover does not influence the underlying permafrost temperature. Our observations support traditional geocryological knowledge which states that, under most circumstances, desertification does not protect, but rather degrades, permafrost.Qingbai WuWenbing YuHuijun JinNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Qingbai Wu Wenbing Yu Huijun Jin No protection of permafrost due to desertification on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
description	Abstract Desertification of tundra regions may form an escalating cycle with permafrost degradation where more permafrost thaw leads to continued desertification. This traditional viewpoint has been challenged in recent reports that state desertification protects the underlying permafrost. However, our measurements of soil temperature from nine sites in the Honglianghe River Basin, interior Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, show that desertification can degrade permafrost. If one compares the permafrost temperatures at sites with thin sand covers (e.g. site Yu-7, permafrost temperature of −0.64 °C; site Yu-6, permafrost temperature of −1.15 °C) with that of site Xie-1 (−0.65 °C, with a 120-cm-thick sand cover), the permafrost temperature is not significantly different. It is clear that a thick sand cover does not influence the underlying permafrost temperature. Our observations support traditional geocryological knowledge which states that, under most circumstances, desertification does not protect, but rather degrades, permafrost.
format	article
author	Qingbai Wu Wenbing Yu Huijun Jin
author_facet	Qingbai Wu Wenbing Yu Huijun Jin
author_sort	Qingbai Wu
title	No protection of permafrost due to desertification on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
title_short	No protection of permafrost due to desertification on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
title_full	No protection of permafrost due to desertification on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
title_fullStr	No protection of permafrost due to desertification on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
title_full_unstemmed	No protection of permafrost due to desertification on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
title_sort	no protection of permafrost due to desertification on the qinghai–tibet plateau
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/8d05b6c72c4c482d89d052ebb9ec732a
work_keys_str_mv	AT qingbaiwu noprotectionofpermafrostduetodesertificationontheqinghaitibetplateau AT wenbingyu noprotectionofpermafrostduetodesertificationontheqinghaitibetplateau AT huijunjin noprotectionofpermafrostduetodesertificationontheqinghaitibetplateau
_version_	1718384729059753984

No protection of permafrost due to desertification on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

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