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Impacts of the active layer on runoff in an upland permafrost basin, northern Tibetan Plateau

The paucity of studies on permafrost runoff generation processes, especially in mountain permafrost, constrains the understanding of permafrost hydrology and prediction of hydrological responses to permafrost degradation. This study investigated runoff generation processes, in addition to the contri...

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Autores principales: Gao, Tanguang, Zhang, Tingjun, Guo, Hong, Hu, Yuantao, Shang, Jianguo, Zhang, Yulan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5823382/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29470510
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192591
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author Gao, Tanguang
Zhang, Tingjun
Guo, Hong
Hu, Yuantao
Shang, Jianguo
Zhang, Yulan
author_facet Gao, Tanguang
Zhang, Tingjun
Guo, Hong
Hu, Yuantao
Shang, Jianguo
Zhang, Yulan
author_sort Gao, Tanguang
collection PubMed
description The paucity of studies on permafrost runoff generation processes, especially in mountain permafrost, constrains the understanding of permafrost hydrology and prediction of hydrological responses to permafrost degradation. This study investigated runoff generation processes, in addition to the contribution of summer thaw depth, soil temperature, soil moisture, and precipitation to streamflow in a small upland permafrost basin in the northern Tibetan Plateau. Results indicated that the thawing period and the duration of the zero-curtain were longer in permafrost of the northern Tibetan Plateau than in the Arctic. Limited snowmelt delayed the initiation of surface runoff in the peat permafrost in the study area. The runoff displayed intermittent generation, with the duration of most runoff events lasting less than 24 h. Precipitation without runoff generation was generally correlated with lower soil moisture conditions. Combined analysis suggested runoff generation in this region was controlled by soil temperature, thaw depth, precipitation frequency and amount, and antecedent soil moisture. This study serves as an important baseline to evaluate future environmental changes on the Tibetan Plateau.
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spelling pubmed-58233822018-03-15 Impacts of the active layer on runoff in an upland permafrost basin, northern Tibetan Plateau Gao, Tanguang Zhang, Tingjun Guo, Hong Hu, Yuantao Shang, Jianguo Zhang, Yulan PLoS One Research Article The paucity of studies on permafrost runoff generation processes, especially in mountain permafrost, constrains the understanding of permafrost hydrology and prediction of hydrological responses to permafrost degradation. This study investigated runoff generation processes, in addition to the contribution of summer thaw depth, soil temperature, soil moisture, and precipitation to streamflow in a small upland permafrost basin in the northern Tibetan Plateau. Results indicated that the thawing period and the duration of the zero-curtain were longer in permafrost of the northern Tibetan Plateau than in the Arctic. Limited snowmelt delayed the initiation of surface runoff in the peat permafrost in the study area. The runoff displayed intermittent generation, with the duration of most runoff events lasting less than 24 h. Precipitation without runoff generation was generally correlated with lower soil moisture conditions. Combined analysis suggested runoff generation in this region was controlled by soil temperature, thaw depth, precipitation frequency and amount, and antecedent soil moisture. This study serves as an important baseline to evaluate future environmental changes on the Tibetan Plateau. Public Library of Science 2018-02-22 /pmc/articles/PMC5823382/ /pubmed/29470510 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192591 Text en © 2018 Gao et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Gao, Tanguang
Zhang, Tingjun
Guo, Hong
Hu, Yuantao
Shang, Jianguo
Zhang, Yulan
Impacts of the active layer on runoff in an upland permafrost basin, northern Tibetan Plateau
title Impacts of the active layer on runoff in an upland permafrost basin, northern Tibetan Plateau
title_full Impacts of the active layer on runoff in an upland permafrost basin, northern Tibetan Plateau
title_fullStr Impacts of the active layer on runoff in an upland permafrost basin, northern Tibetan Plateau
title_full_unstemmed Impacts of the active layer on runoff in an upland permafrost basin, northern Tibetan Plateau
title_short Impacts of the active layer on runoff in an upland permafrost basin, northern Tibetan Plateau
title_sort impacts of the active layer on runoff in an upland permafrost basin, northern tibetan plateau
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5823382/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29470510
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192591
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