Chinese scientists have identified important non-temperature environmental factors contributing to permafrost degradation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, according to the Northwest Institute of Eco-environment and Resources (NIEER) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The study was conducted by a research team led by Prof. Wu Qingbai at the State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science and Frozen Soil Engineering of the NIEER, with the findings recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

This study provides new scientific evidence for the ecological protection and engineering safety in permafrost regions under global warming, according to Prof. Wu.

Wu noted that the world’s largest continuous alpine permafrost on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is increasingly affected by climate warming. Permafrost degradation can disrupt carbon, water and nutrient cycling, and may also pose risks to the stability of plateau infrastructure and ecosystem services — the direct and indirect benefits that humans derive from ecosystems.   

The study shows that permafrost degradation on the plateau accelerated between 2001 and 2020. The rate of active layer thickening increased from 45 ± 15 cm per decade during 2001–2010 to 86 ± 30 cm per decade during 2011–2020, while near-surface permafrost temperature rose from 0.15 ± 0.16 °C per decade to 0.38 ± 0.22 °C per decade.

The team compiled long-term records from 55 in situ monitoring sites on the plateau, and conducted the quantitative analysis on the driving factors behind permafrost degradation. Results showed that air temperature explained less than 20 percent of the observed changes, while non-temperature factors such as precipitation, vegetation cover, wind speed, air pressure and the height of the 0°C isotherm together accounted for about 45 percent. The study also noted that ignoring non-temperature factors would overestimate the contribution of temperature.

"Our findings highlight the crucial role of non-temperature variables in modulating permafrost responses to climate change, which is important for refining projections of carbon, nutrient, and water cycling and for safeguarding critical infrastructure on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and other permafrost regions," Wu noted.

The study complements and extends previous research that emphasized the role of temperature, by demonstrating the significant contributions of non-temperature drivers.