疏勒河源区高寒草地景观对地形因子和冻土类型的响应

基于我国环境小卫星的多光谱数据,结合野外实测数据,得到疏勒河源区的植被覆盖度图,并结合地形因子和多年冻土数据分析植被覆盖度对地形因子和多年冻土的响应.结果表明:疏勒河源区整体植被覆盖度低,区域内植被覆盖度差异性大、离散程度高,冰川、积雪、裸岩石砾地、裸地等非植被景观是疏勒河源区最主要的景观类型;坡度、坡向是限制植被分布的主要因子,坡度越小,平均植被覆盖度越大,随坡向由无坡向、阴坡、半阴(阳)坡到阳坡平均植被覆盖度不断减少;不同冻土类型区植被覆盖度差异性显著,极稳定型、稳定型、亚稳定型、过渡型、不稳定型、季节型冻土区平均植被覆盖度呈现出先增加后减少的趋势,且亚稳定型冻土区域的植被覆盖度最高.     

1982-2009年东北多年冻土区植被净初级生产力动态及其对全球变化的响应

东北多年冻土区作为高纬度寒区之一,对全球变化较敏感.本文基于AVHRR和MODIS两种遥感数据源的归一化植被指数,应用CASA模型对1982-2009年东北多年冻土区植被净初级生产力（NPP）进行模拟.结果表明： 1982-2009年,东北多年冻土区年均气温、年太阳辐射总量和年日照时数显著上升,年降水量显著下降,CO₂浓度及其年增长率显著增大;植被年NPP呈显著的先增加后降低趋势,变化分异节点在1998年.研究期间,东北多年冻土区植被年均NPP总量为623 g C·m^-2,植被年NPP空间分布差异明显.降水是该区生长季植被生长的主要影响因子,植被NPP对气候变化响应的空间异质性明显.土地利用变化通过改变土地覆被状况使植被NPP发生变化,影响了植被NPP的时空分布特征.植被NPP与CO₂浓度呈显著正相关.多年冻土退化对植被NPP的影响随着各区域环境的不同而有所差异.多年冻土区植被NPP与年均地温呈显著正相关,与年最大冻土深度呈负相关.     

1982-2009年东北多年冻土区植被净初级生产力动态及其对全球变化的响应

东北多年冻土区作为高纬度寒区之一,对全球变化较敏感.本文基于AVHRR和MODIS两种遥感数据源的归一化植被指数,应用CASA模型对1982-2009年东北多年冻土区植被净初级生产力(NPP)进行模拟.结果表明:1982-2009年,东北多年冻土区年均气温、年太阳辐射总量和年日照时数显著上升,年降水量显著下降,CO2浓度及其年增长率显著增大;植被年NPP呈显著的先增加后降低趋势,变化分异节点在1998年.研究期间,东北多年冻土区植被年均NPP总量为623 g C·m-2,植被年NPP空间分布差异明显.降水是该区生长季植被生长的主要影响因子,植被NPP对气候变化响应的空间异质性明显.土地利用变化通过改变土地覆被状况使植被NPP发生变化,影响了植被NPP的时空分布特征,植被NPP与CO2浓度呈显著正相关.多年冻土退化对植被NPP的影响随着各区域环境的不同而有所差异.多年冻土区植被NPP与年均地温呈显著正相关,与年最大冻土深度呈负相关.     

人类工程活动对青藏高原北部多年冻土融化层及其环境的影响

人类工程活动对多年冻土环境的影响是评价人类工程活动对冻土生态系统影响的重要组成部分.以修建青藏公路时的工程干扰带与非干扰带为对比,研究了人类工程活动对多年冻土环境及其融化层的影响.结果表明,干扰带的融化层厚度比非干扰带要小,在非工程干扰带内,融化层厚度随海拔高度的升高,总体上呈下降趋势;而在工程干扰带内,融化层厚度随海拔高度的变化无规律可循.植被类型对冻土融化层厚度的影响表现为:草原＞灌丛＞草甸.干扰带和非干扰带的土壤含水量垂直分布格局主要受海拔高度的影响,在海拔接近时,受植被状况的影响.人类工程活动对地温的影响表现为干扰带温度低于非干扰带温度.     

大兴安岭林区不同植被对冻土地温的影响

植被常常通过反射太阳辐射、遮阳、蒸腾散热、阻风挡雪、保水吸水等来影响下伏多年冻土.但是不同的植被类型,对下伏冻土热状况的影响也不尽相同.为了探讨大兴安岭林区不同植被对冻土的影响,选取大兴安岭森林生态站实验区杜香-真藓-落叶松林、真藓-落叶松林、塔头-落叶松林、柴桦落叶松林和伊图里河镇原冻土观测场塔头湿地5种典型林型,分析不同林型对冻土的温度和冻融作用的影响.研究发现不同林型的不同组分,由于反射率、覆盖度和根系吸水能力的差别,使得各种林型下的地面温度也不相同.在夏季,月平均地面温度从高到低依次为真藓-落叶松林、杜香-真藓-落叶松林、伊图里河塔头湿地、柴桦落叶松林和塔头落叶松林.由于塔头落叶松林存在乔木层和灌木层,与伊图里河塔头湿地相比,8月份平均地面温度差值低10℃以上.柴桦落叶松林两个钻孔的对比实验表明,铲除地表植被会使活动层0.8 m以上部分的地温升高,并且主要发生在8、9、10月份.对冻土而言,林区植被暖季降温的贡献大于冷季增温的贡献.另外,塔头一落叶松林根系吸水能力最强,这种林型下的土壤开始融化和冻结的日期最晚,冻结初期地面降温速率为0.1 ℃/d,而0.2 m以下降温速率几乎为零.同样柴桦落叶松林的塔头根系吸水能力使得其0.5 m和0.8 m的降温速率低于除塔头落叶松林外的其他林型,但是地面上植物的凋零和枯萎会加快地面的冻结速率.真藓-落叶松林的乔灌木层发育不好,地面降温速率大于杜香-真藓-落叶松林和伊图里河塔头湿地,而伊图里河塔头湿地由于没有乔灌木层的庇护,地面以下的降温速率高于其他林型.     

多年冻土退化对湿地甲烷排放的影响研究进展

全球气候变暖导致北半球大部分多年冻土区的冻土已经开始退化。多年冻土退化对冻土区湿地CH₄排放产生重要影响,可能直接决定冻土区湿地对全球气候变暖的反馈方式。综述了近年来多年冻土退化对湿地CH₄排放影响的研究。多年冻土退化导致的土壤活动层深度增加和植被类型由中生向湿生的转变都可能会大大增加冻土区湿地CH₄排放量,从而可能对全球气候变暖产生正反馈作用。但多年冻土退化导致的水文条件变化、土壤温度变化和微生物组成及活性变化对湿地CH₄排放的影响却存在一定的不确定性。多年冻土退化除了影响湿地CH₄排放量之外,还可能通过改变土壤冻融过程而影响湿地CH₄排放的季节分配模式。最后提出目前研究中存在的问题,并对未来研究方向进行了展望。     

青藏公路南段植被与多年冻土的相互关系

植被与多年冻土相互影响、相互制约。如冻土的低温限制植物根系向深处生长发育;冻胀丘、热融湖塘、滑塌、融冻泥流的形成,破坏植被分布的一致性;而植被覆盖减少阳光直射,蒸腾作用消耗大量水分,降低地表温度;沼泽化草甸下具有较厚的泥炭层,对多年冻土又有保护作用。根据植被类型、结构、种类组成,结合冻土地表特征,可指示多年冻土分布范围。植被演替对大气温度和土壤湿度的变化极为敏感,以此可间接判断多年冻土的发展趋势。     

寒区生态系统中多年冻土研究进展

近地表面的多年冻土是陆地生态系统重要的组成部分,其研究是生态、水文和工程建设研究者关心的重要议题。气候是多年冻土重要的影响因子,国内外研究中,与气候变化相结合的多年冻土研究是当前研究的重要方面;同时,多年冻土的水文学、生态学意义研究也在广泛开展。我国的多年冻土研究一直与寒区经济建设和开发紧密联系,在冻土分布、类型、温度、冻土退化及冻土区开发利用等方面取得了丰硕的成果。未来还应注重高分辨率冻土分布制图、融深变化的研究,并建立长期的多年冻土变化监测机制,以便更好地研究气候变化下,陆地生态系统对全球变化的响应与反馈。     

中国东北多年冻土区植被生长季NDVI时空变化及其对气候变化的响应

多年冻土对气候变化十分敏感,尤其是多年冻土上的植被,易受气候变化影响.东北多年冻土区位于北半球中、高纬度地区,是我国第二大多年冻土区,同时也是欧亚大陆多年冻土带的南缘.本文基于1981—2014年LTDR和MODIS 两种数据集对东北多年冻土区植被生长季归一化植被指数(NDVI)时空变化特征进行分析,同时结合气象数据,分析植被对气候变化的响应.结果表明: 研究期间,东北多年冻土区植被生长季平均NDVI呈显著增加趋势,年增加0.0036.空间逐像元NDVI变化趋势具有明显的空间异质性. 研究区80.6%区域的植被NDVI具有显著增加趋势(P<0.05),7.7%的区域呈显著减少趋势(P<0.05).不同类型多年冻土区的植被NDVI增加强度不同,依次为连续多年冻土区>不连续多年冻土区>稀疏岛状多年冻土区>季节冻土区,NDVI增加趋势最大值(>0.004)所占的面积比例依次为连续多年冻土区>不连续多年冻土区>稀疏岛状多年冻土区>季节冻土区.多年冻土全区尺度下,植被生长季NDVI与平均气温呈显著正相关关系(r=0.79,P<0.01),与降水呈较弱的负相关,表明气温是东北多年冻土区植被生长的主控因子.研究区的多年冻土退化对植被生长起到积极的促进作用,尤其是在连续多年冻土区和不连续多年冻土区,植被NDVI增加强度更为剧烈.尽管增加的地表温度可以加快植被生长、增加植被覆盖,但长期来看,多年冻土退化甚至消失会阻碍植被生长.     

青藏高原多年冻土区积雪对沼泽、草甸浅层土壤水热过程的影响

有无积雪覆盖下浅层土壤水热过程是青藏高原多年冻土区水能循环中的一个重要不确定因素.为了研究积雪覆盖对高寒沼泽、草甸浅层土壤水热过程的影响,在青藏高原多年冻土区选择了典型的有无积雪覆盖的沼泽、草甸建立观测场,观测浅层土壤的温度和水分状况.通过分别研究积雪对高寒沼泽、草甸浅层土壤温度和水分的影响,结果表明:高寒沼泽、草甸在有积雪覆盖下浅层土壤开始冻结和消融的时间都有所滞后,且冻结持续时间相应有所增加.由于积雪覆盖,浅层土壤温度变化速率略有减小而水分变化速率略有增加,积雪起到了抑制土壤温度变化速率和促进土壤水分变化速率的作用.积雪覆盖对秋季冻结过程和夏季融化过程浅层土壤的温度和水分的影响明显大于冬季冻结降温过程和春季升温过程,且对融化过程的影响较冻结过程明显.通过对比分析有无雪盖沼泽和草甸土壤,说明积雪的覆盖对沼泽土壤温度的影响要大于草甸土壤,对土壤水分融升过程的影响大于冻降过程,且对沼泽浅层土壤的影响大于草甸浅层土壤.     

Recent Shrub Proliferation in the Mackenzie Delta Uplands and Microclimatic Implications

Local observations, repeat photos, and broad-scale remote sensing suggest that tall shrubs are becoming an increasingly dominant component of Low Arctic ecosystems. This shift has the potential to alter the surface energy balance through changes to the surface albedo, snow accumulation and melt, and ground thermal regimes. However, to date there have been few quantitative estimates of the rate of tall shrub expansion. We used soft copy stereo visualization of air photos to map fine-scale changes in tall shrub tundra and green alder density in the upland tundra north of Inuvik, NT between 1972 and 2004. We also used 2004 photos to map tall shrub tundra in areas affected by fires that occurred between 1960 and 1968. To assess the potential impact of vegetation change on microclimate, we used pyranometers to measure albedo and net solar radiation, thermistors attached to data loggers to record ground temperatures, and field surveys to record winter snow conditions in three common vegetation types. Fine-scale mapping shows that green alder stem density has increased by 68% (±24.1) since 1972. Average tall shrub tundra cover has also increased by 15% (±3.6) since 1972. Historical tundra fires had the highest proportion of tall shrub cover of all areas mapped using 2004 photos, ranging from 92 to 99%. Based on these results, we suggest that predicted increases in the size and frequency of tundra fire are likely to drive rapid shrub proliferation in the Low Arctic. Shrub-dominated sites have decreased albedo, increased net solar radiation, deeper snow pack, and elevated near-surface ground temperatures, indicating that continued increases in shrub cover will affect regional climate, hydrology, permafrost temperatures, and terrain stability.     

Postfire energy exchange in arctic tundra: the importance and climatic implications of burn severity

Fires produce land cover changes that have consequences for surface energy balance and temperature. Three eddy covariance towers were setup along a burn severity gradient (i.e. Severely, Moderately, and Unburned tundra) to determine the effect of fire and burn severity on arctic tundra surface energy exchange and temperature for three growing seasons (2008–2010) following the 2007 Anaktuvuk River fire. The three sites were well matched before the fire, experienced similar weather, and had similar energy budget closure, indicating that the measured energy exchange differences between sites were largely attributable to burn severity. Increased burn severity resulted in decreased vegetation and moss cover, organic layer depth, and the rate of postfire vegetation recovery. Albedo and surface greenness steadily recovered with Moderately matching Unburned tundra by the third growing season. Decreased albedo increased net radiation and partly fueled increased latent and ground heat fluxes, soil temperatures, and thaw depth. Decreases in moss cover and the organic layer also influenced the ground thermal regime and increased latent heat fluxes. These changes either offset or decreased the surface warming effect from decreased albedo, resulting in a small surface warming in Severely and a small surface cooling in Moderately relative to Unburned tundra. These results indicate that fires have a significant impact on surface energy balance and highlight the importance of moss and permafrost thaw in regulating arctic surface energy exchange and temperature.     

Tropical surface temperature response to vegetation cover changes and the role of drylands

Vegetation cover creates competing effects on land surface temperature: it typically cools through enhancing energy dissipation and warms via decreasing surface albedo. Global vegetation has been previously found to overall net cool land surfaces with cooling contributions from temperate and tropical vegetation and warming contributions from boreal vegetation. Recent studies suggest that dryland vegetation across the tropics strongly contributes to this global net cooling feedback. However, observation-based vegetation-temperature interaction studies have been limited in the tropics, especially in their widespread drylands. Theoretical considerations also call into question the ability of dryland vegetation to strongly cool the surface under low water availability. Here, we use satellite observations to investigate how tropical vegetation cover influences the surface energy balance. We find that while increased vegetation cover would impart net cooling feedbacks across the tropics, net vegetal cooling effects are subdued in drylands. Using observations, we determine that dryland plants have less ability to cool the surface due to their cooling pathways being reduced by aridity, overall less efficient dissipation of turbulent energy, and their tendency to strongly increase solar radiation absorption. As a result, while proportional greening across the tropics would create an overall biophysical cooling feedback, dryland tropical vegetation reduces the overall tropical surface cooling magnitude by at least 14%, instead of enhancing cooling as suggested by previous global studies.     

Ecosystem feedbacks on climate at the landscape scale

Vegetation controls aspects of climate at all scales. These controls operate through fluxes of mass (water vapour, particulates, trace gases, condensation nuclei, and ice nuclei) and energy (latent and sensible heat, radiative exchanges, and momentum dissipation) between the biosphere and the atmosphere. The role these fluxes play in controlling minimum and maximum temperature, temperature range, rainfall, and precipitation processes are detailed. On the hemispheric scale, the importance of evapotranspiration, vegetation surface roughness, and vegetation albedo in the current generation of atmospheric general circulation models is reviewed. Finally, I assess at the planetary scale the global climate effects of biogenic emissions that are well mixed throughout the troposphere. I show that daily maximum and minimum temperatures are, in part, controlled by the emission of non-methane hydrocarbons and transpired water vapour. In many regions, a substantial fraction of the rainfall arises from upstream evapotranspiration rather than from oceanic evaporation. Biosphere evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and albedo are key controls in the general circulation of the atmosphere: climate models that lack adequate specifications for these biosphere attributes fail. The biosphere modulates climate at all scales.     

Measuring fractional forest canopy element cover and openness – definitions and methodologies revisited

Canopy structural parameters are often used to give adequate representation of vegetated ecosystems for various purposes including primary productivity, climate system, water and carbon gas exchanges, and radiation extinction. Canopy structural parameters are usually described using several pseudo‐synonymous terms, often measuring different components of vegetation canopies. Standardization in the definitions has fallen short, leading to confusion of terms even in standard text books making the comparison of historic measures futile. Here we clarify concepts that have been used for fractional canopy element cover and openness measures. The fractional canopy element cover and openness concepts considered are canopy closure, canopy cover, canopy openness, crown closure, crown completeness, crown cover, crown porosity, site openness and tilt openness. New methodologies are presented to obtain large scale fractional canopy element cover and openness measures using hemispherical photography. The new methodologies and variations in definitions of fractional canopy element cover and openness concepts are demonstrated using photographic measurements in complex topography. The results indicate that both fractional canopy element cover and openness parameters can be estimated with a few point‐based measurements using hemispherical photography. Hemispherical photography is therefore less time, labour and resource intensive, as compared to point based measuring techniques of canopy element cover and openness. Most of the commonly and interchangeably used concepts of fractional canopy element cover and openness measures represent physically different structural properties of a vegetated ecosystem.     

Regional atmospheric cooling and wetting effect of permafrost thaw‐induced boreal forest loss

In the sporadic permafrost zone of North America, thaw‐induced boreal forest loss is leading to permafrost‐free wetland expansion. These land cover changes alter landscape‐scale surface properties with potentially large, however, still unknown impacts on regional climates. In this study, we combine nested eddy covariance flux tower measurements with satellite remote sensing to characterize the impacts of boreal forest loss on albedo, eco‐physiological and aerodynamic surface properties, and turbulent energy fluxes of a lowland boreal forest region in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Planetary boundary layer modelling is used to estimate the potential forest loss impact on regional air temperature and atmospheric moisture. We show that thaw‐induced conversion of forests to wetlands increases albedo: and bulk surface conductance for water vapour and decreases aerodynamic surface temperature. At the same time, heat transfer efficiency is reduced. These shifts in land surface properties increase latent at the expense of sensible heat fluxes, thus, drastically reducing Bowen ratios. Due to the lower albedo of forests and their masking effect of highly reflective snow, available energy is lower in wetlands, especially in late winter. Modelling results demonstrate that a conversion of a present‐day boreal forest–wetland to a hypothetical homogeneous wetland landscape could induce a near‐surface cooling effect on regional air temperatures of up to 3–4 °C in late winter and 1–2 °C in summer. An atmospheric wetting effect in summer is indicated by a maximum increase in water vapour mixing ratios of 2 mmol mol^?1. At the same time, maximum boundary layer heights are reduced by about a third of the original height. In fall, simulated air temperature and atmospheric moisture between the two scenarios do not differ. Therefore, permafrost thaw‐induced boreal forest loss may modify regional precipitation patterns and slow down regional warming trends.     

Threshold loss of discontinuous permafrost and landscape evolution

This study demonstrates linkages between the 1997/1998 El Niño/Southern Oscillation index and a threshold shift to increased permafrost loss within a southern Taiga Plains watershed, Northwest Territories, Canada. Three‐dimensional contraction of permafrost plateaus and changes in vegetation structural characteristics are determined from multitemporal airborne Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) surveys in 2008, 2011 and 2015. Morphological changes in permafrost cover are compared with optical image analogues from 1970, 1977, 2000 and 2008 and time‐series hydro‐climate data. Results demonstrate that significant changes in air temperature, precipitation, runoff and a shortening of the snow‐covered season by 35 days (1998–2014) and 50 days (1998 only) occurred after 1997. The albedo reduction associated with 35 and 50 days less snow cover leads to increases in shortwave energy receipt during the active thaw period of ~12% (3% annually) and ~16% (5% annually), respectively. From 2000 to 2015, sporadic permafrost loss accelerated from 0.19% (of total basin area) per year between 1970 and 2000 to 0.58% per year from 2000 to 2015, with a projected total loss of permafrost by ~2044. From ~1997 to 2011, we observe a corresponding shift to increased runoff ratio. However, observed increases in the proportion of snow precipitation and the volumetric contribution of permafrost loss to runoff post‐1997 (0.6–6.4% per year) cannot fully explain this shift. This suggests increases in drainage efficiency and possible losses from long‐term groundwater storage as a result of subtle terrain morphological and soil zone hydraulic conductivity changes. These hydrological changes appear coincident with high vegetation mortality at plateau margins combined with succession‐related canopy growth in some bog and fen areas, which are presumed to be drying. Similar changes in runoff response were observed at adjacent Birch, Trout and Jean Marie River watersheds indicating that observations are representative of northern Boreal sporadic permafrost/wetland watersheds in the Taiga Plains.     

北方典型农牧交错带草地开垦对地表辐射收支与水热平衡的影响

以北方典型农牧交错带草原和农田生态系统的涡度相关数据为基础,对比分析了生长季两种不同土地利用类型的辐射和水热通量之异同,揭示了草地开垦影响地表辐射收支与水热平衡的机制。结果表明:在植被生长季(5月—9月),草地开垦引起太阳总辐射增加了10.74%,短波反射辐射减少了14.20%,净辐射增加了35.16%;在水热通量方面,草地开垦引起潜热通量日积分平均值增加了0.20MJ/m~2,同时显热通量减少了0.09 MJ/m~2;生长季内地表反照率减小,表征地表吸收太阳辐射增加,有升高气温的趋势;非生长季内地表反照率增加,有降低气温趋势,此外地表反照率与土壤湿度存在负指数关系;波文比在植被生长早期和末期增加,生长旺期减小,说明草地开垦与影响着近地表大气状态,从而改变了区域气候。     

Energy feedbacks of northern high-latitude ecosystems to the climate system due to reduced snow cover during 20th century warming

The warming associated with changes in snow cover in northern high-latitude terrestrial regions represents an important energy feedback to the climate system. Here, we simulate snow cover-climate feedbacks (i.e. changes in snow cover on atmospheric heating) across the Pan-arctic over two distinct warming periods during the 20th century, 1910–1940 and 1970–2000. We offer evidence that increases in snow cover–climate feedbacks during 1970–2000 were nearly three times larger than during 1910–1940 because the recent snow-cover change occurred in spring, when radiation load is highest, rather than in autumn. Based on linear regression analysis, we also detected a greater sensitivity of snow cover–climate feedbacks to temperature trends during the more recent time period. Pan-arctic vegetation types differed substantially in snow cover–climate feedbacks. Those with a high seasonal contrast in albedo, such as tundra, showed much larger changes in atmospheric heating than did those with a low seasonal contrast in albedo, such as forests, even if the changes in snow-cover duration were similar across the vegetation types. These changes in energy exchange warrant careful consideration in studies of climate change, particularly with respect to associated shifts in vegetation between forests, grasslands, and tundra.     

Ground monitoring the light–shadow windows of a tree canopy to yield canopy light interception and morphological traits

Monitoring the light–shadow windows of a tree via a grid system on the ground was performed on sunny summer days at high spatial resolution using a custom‐built, inexpensive scanner. The measurements were taken with two goals: (1) to quickly and remotely quantify the overall, short‐wave solar radiation (300–1100 nm) intercepted by the tree canopy, and (2) to yield such crown geometric traits as shape, size and the number of theoretical canopy leaf layers (leaf layer index, LLI) in relation to the section orthogonal to sunbeam direction (sun window). The ground readings at each measurement over the day were used to project a digitized shadow image. Image processing was applied and the intercepted radiation was calculated as the difference from the corresponding incoming radiation above the canopy. Tree‐crown size and shape were profiled via computer imaging by analysing the different shadow images acquired at the various solar positions during the day. It is notable that these combined images yielded the crown features without having to parameterize such canopy characteristics as foliage extension and spatial distribution.