the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Projected changes of Active layer thickness over permafrost under 1.5~5.0 °C climate warming on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
Abstract. Permafrost degradation and active layer thickness (ALT) changes on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) are caused by soil temperature increases under the continuous increase in global temperature. Therefore, the soil zero-degree layer can be used as an index to investigate the changes in permafrost and the ALT. The observed and projected permafrost and ALT were estimated by the summer soil zero-degree layer using soil temperature data from weather stations and the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6). The results revealed that the ALT is deeper in summer (e.g., July), indicating that the melting capacity increases. The CMIP6-simulated and observed soil temperatures are consistent in the vertical direction across the QTP, but the model results exhibit significant cold deviations. The average ALT on the Qinghai‒Tibet Plateau was approximately 3.75 m (range of 1.10~15.91 m) during 1961–1990 and increased to 5.77 m (range of 1.72~13.53 m) during 1991–2022, an increase of 53.9 %. The observed ALT were >6 m in the southeastern QTP area, such as east and south of Shigatse and Lhasa, where it was <3 m in the western Pamir Plateau, near Gaize, north of Qamdo in the northeast and east of Golmud, and other central and northern regions, where the values were 3–6 m. The ALT will continue to increase under the four Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), especially when the radiative forcing level is high, and they will increase by 39.6 % under SSP5-8.5 by the end of the 21st century. The regional average of ALT will increase by 5.4 % for every 0.5℃ increase in global warming levels, increasing from 10.6 % to 47.1 %. A small change (e.g., <20 %) in the coverage area of the ALT will occur, decreasing from 1,424,735 km2 to 13,682 km2. However, the coverage area with a depth increase of more than 100 % will increase from 0 to 401,433 km2. The regions where the ALT slightly increases are primarily distributed in the northeast, east and southeast regions of the QTP, and the region where the ALT dramatically increases is in the western region, where there is concentrated permafrost.
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-1169', Anonymous Referee #1, 08 Oct 2024
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Authors studied the thickness of soil zero-degree layer using soil temperature data from weather stations and 29 GCM of CMIP6. They tried to use the depth of soil zero-degree layer in July to estimate active layer thickness (ALT), and analyzed and projected the change of ALT under SSPs scenario. However, the author's concept of ALT is wrong, and the soil zero-degree layer depth in July cannot represent ALT. In the seasonal frozen soil area, soil are in a state of unfrozen from the surface to the underground, soil freezing process occurs only in the cold season, and the depth of the soil zero-degree layer is called the seasonally freezing depth, which generally occurs from September of the year to May of the next year. In permafrost areas, soil are frozen from the surface to a certain depth of the ground, soil thawing process will occur only in the warm season, the depth of the soil zero-degree layer is called the seasonal thawing depth, which generally occurs from May to September. Therefore, soil zero-degree layer depth is different for seasonally freezing areas and permafrost regions, not active layer depth.
The thickness of the layer of the ground that is subject to annual thawing and freeing in areas underlain by permafrost (Permafrost terminology from IPA). In general, the seasonal thawing depth in the permafrost region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau reaches its maximum in early September to late October. The maximum seasonally thawing depth is defined as ALT. In this paper, soil zero-degree layer depth is seasonally thawing depth in permafrost regions and seasonally freezing depth in seasonally freezing regions. Authors do not divided the permafrost areas and the seasonally frozen soil areas. ALT is mixed together to analyze and discuss. Therefore, results, discussions and conclusions given by the author are incorrect. In other words, the method developed by the author to estimate ALT by soil zero-degree layer is wrong.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1169-RC1 -
AC1: 'Reply on RC1', ZHenjie Li, 09 Apr 2025
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Dear Reviewer:
Thank you for your comments on the article.
We are, of course, aware of the concepts and definitions of permafrost and active layer thickness (ALT). However, our treatment of ALT in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is based on the following fundamental assumptions.
(1) Due to the extremely complex terrain of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, we need to simplify certain conditions when studying ground temperatures in this region. In this paper, we only consider the depth at which the soil temperature is 0°C, without taking into account the effects of soil texture, moisture content, and heat transfer processes within the soil on the vertical temperature structure. For heat transfer between different soil layers, we only consider the depth reached by simultaneous heat transfer capacity within the same month.
(2) In summer, the surface soil temperature in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau reaches its peak, and within a certain depth, the soil temperature decreases with increasing depth. By selecting July, the month with the highest surface temperature, as our study period, we can interpolate to determine the depth of the 0°C layer in the soil. As mentioned in the paper, in winter, such as January, the surface temperature is generally below 0°C, and the temperature of the soil or bedrock below the surface is also below 0°C, with the surface temperature being lower than that of the underlying soil. Consequently, the interpolated position of the 0°C layer would appear to be in the air.
(3) In conducting this research, we do not rigidly adhere to existing methods but instead attempt to reasonably estimate the position of the 0°C soil layer using curve fitting based on the vertical distribution structure of soil temperature. For other months, such as September, which is a transitional season, the vertical distribution curve of soil temperature becomes more complex, requiring consideration of the continued downward heat transfer from previous months. We only consider the depth reached by the time-synchronized heat transfer between soil layers.
Additionally, the spatial resolution of the CMIP6 model data we used is mostly greater than 1 degree. With such coarse spatial resolution, each grid cell represents an area of approximately more than 10,000 km², meaning a single grid value represents the ground temperature characteristics of a large, complex region. In the paper, we performed simple linear interpolation in space, resulting in a spatial resolution of 0.5 degrees. To better assess the simulation performance of the CMIP6 models for ground temperatures in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, we used the original, uncorrected CMIP6 model data. Therefore, more detailed delineation of permafrost and seasonally frozen ground regions is not particularly meaningful. Moreover, the significant differences between models also limit the feasibility of such delineation.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1169-AC1
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AC1: 'Reply on RC1', ZHenjie Li, 09 Apr 2025
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