Abstract
The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau is the largest permafrost region at low latitude in the world. Climate warming may lead to permafrost temperature rise, ground ice thawing and permafrost degradation, thus inducing thermal hazards. In this paper, the ARCGIS method is used to calculate the changes of ground ice content and active layer thickness under different climate scenarios on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, in the coming decades, thus providing the basis for hazards zonation. The method proposed by Nelson in 2002 was used for hazards zonation after revision, which was based on the changes of active layer thickness and ground ice content. The study shows that permafrost exhibits different degrees of degradation in the different climate scenarios. The thawing of ground ice and the change from low-temperature to high-temperature permafrost were the main permafrost degradation modes. This process, accompanied with thinning permafrost, increases the active layer thickness and the northward movement of the permafrost southern boundary. By 2099, the permafrost area decreases by 46.2, 16.01 and 8.5% under scenarios A2, A1B and B1, respectively. The greatest danger zones are located mainly to the south of the West Kunlun Mountains, the middle of the Qingnan Valley, the southern piedmont of the Gangdise and Nyainqentanglha Mountains and some regions in the southern piedmont of the Himalayas. The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau permafrost region is in the low-risk category. Climate warming exacerbates the development of thermal hazards. In 2099, the permafrost region is mainly in the middle-risk category, and only a small portion is in the low-risk category.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anisimov OA, Reneva SA (2006) Permafrost and changing climate: the Russian perspective. Ambio 35(4):169–175
Burgess MM, Smith SL (2003) 17 years of thaw penetration and surface settlement observations in permafrost terrain along the Norman Wells pipeline, Northwest Territories, Canada. In: Phillips M, Springman SM, Arenson LU (eds) Permafrost: proceedings of the 8th international conference on permafrost, pp 107–112
Canadian Standards Association (2010) Technical guide-infrastructure in permafrost: a guideline for climate change adaptation. Rep Plus 401:1–10
Cheng GD (1982) Divided on the high-altitude permafrost in China. J Glaciol Geocryol 4:1–17
Cheng GD (2005) A roadbed cooling approach for the construction of Qinghai–Tibet Railway. Cold Reg Sci Technol 42:169–176
Cheng GD, Wu TH (2007) Responses of permafrost to climate change and their environmental significance, Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. J Geophys Res 112:F02S03. doi:10.1029/2006JF000631
Cheng G, Zhao X, Lin Z (1998) Climate zonation and the sensitivity of the cryosphere on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau to global change. In: Tang M, Cheng G, Lin Z (eds) Recent climate changes on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and their environmental impacts. Guangdong Science and Technology Press, Guangzhou, pp 309–330
Cui W, Wu QB, Liu YZ (2010) Thermal effect of a thermokarst lake on permafrost. J Glaciol Geocryol 32:755–761
Harris C, Davies MCR, Etzelmüller B (2001) The assessment of potential geotechnical hazards associated with mountain permafrost in a warming global climate. Permafr Periglac Process 12:145–156
Hayley DW, Horne B (2008) Rationalizing climate change for design of structures on permafrost: a Canadian perspective. In: Kane DL, Hinkel KM (eds) Proceedings of ninth international conference on permafrost, vol 1. Institute for Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, pp 681–686
Instanes A, Anisimov O (2008) Climate change and arctic infrastructure. In: Kane DL, Hinkel KM (eds) Ninth international conference on permafrost, vol 1. Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, pp 779–784
IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. In: Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis M, Averyt KB, Tignor M, Miller HL (eds) Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, p 996
Jin HJ, Wei Z, Wang SL (2008a) Assessment of frozen-ground conditions for engineering geology along the Qinghai–Tibet highway and railway, China. Eng Geol 101:96–109
Jin HJ, Yu QH, Wang SL (2008b) Changes of permafrost environments along the Qinghai–Tibet engineering corridor induced by anthropogenic activities and climate warming. Cold Reg Sci Technol 53:317–333
Jorgenson MT, Osterkamp TE (2005) Response of boreal ecosystems to varying modes of permafrost degradation. Can J For Res 35:2100–2111
Jumikis AR (1977) Thermal geotechnics. Rutgers University Press, Piscataway
Khrustalev LN (2001) Problems of permafrost engineering as related to global climate warming. In: Paepe R, Melnikov V (eds) Permafrost response on economic development, environmental security and natural resources. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 407–423
Li SX, Cheng GD, Guo DX (1996) The future thermal regime of numerical simulating permafrost on Qinghai–Xizang Plateau, China, under climate warming. Sci China (Ser D) 39:434–441
Li X, Cheng GD, Lu L (2005) Spatial analysis of air temperature in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Arctic Alpine Res 37:246–252
Li X, Cheng GD, Jin HJ (2008) Cryospheric change in China. Global Planet Change 62:210–218
Lin ZJ, Niu FJ, Ge JJ (2010) Variation characteristics of the thawing lake in permafrost region of the Tibetan Plateau and their influence on the thermal state of permafrost. J Glaciol Geocryol 32:166–173
Lin ZJ, Niu FJ, Liu H, Lu JH (2011) Disturbance-related thawing of a ditch and its influence on roadbeds on permafrost. Cold Reg Sci Technol 66:105–114
Ling F, Zhang TJ (2003) Numerical simulation of permafrost thermal regime and talik development under shallow thaw lakes on the Alaskan Arctic Coastal Plain. J Geophys Res 108:4511. doi:10.1029/2002JD003014
Liu SY, Ding YJ, Wang NL (1998) Mass balance sensitivity to climate changes of the glacier No. 1 at the Urumqi River Head, Tianshan Mts. J Glaciol Geocryol 20:9–14
Lu ZJ (2008) Research the water thermal process on active layer of permafrost under the engineering influence. PhD thesis of Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Lu ZJ, Wu QB, Shen Y (2006) Heat and water difference of active layers beneath different surface conditions near Beiluhe in Qinghai–Xizang Plateau. J Glaciol Geocryol 28(5):642–647
Lunardini VJ (1978) Theory of n-factors and correlation of data. In: Proceedings of 3rd international conference on permafrost, vol 1, Edmonton, Alberta. National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, pp 40–46
Lunardini VJ (1981) Heat transform in cold climate. Van Nostrand, New York
Nan ZT (2003) Study on characteristics of permafrost distribution on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and construction of digital roadbed of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway. PhD thesis of Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Nan ZT, Li SX, Wu TH (2003) Permafrost changes of the northern limit of permafrost on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in the last 30 years. Acta Geogr Sin 58:817–823
Nan ZT, Li SX, Cheng GD (2005) Prediction of permafrost distribution on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in the next 50 and 100 years. Sci China (Ser D) 48:797–804
Nelson FE, Anisimov OA, Shiklomanov NI (2002) Climate change and hazard zonation in the circum-Arctic permafrost regions. Nat Hazards 26:203–225
Nelson FE, Shiklomanov NI, Streletskiy DA (2008) A permafrost observatory at barrow, Alaska: long-term observations of active-layer thickness and permafrost temperature. In: Kane DL, Hinkel KM (eds) Ninth international conference on permafrost, vol 2. Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, pp 1267–1280
Niu FJ, Cheng GD, Xie Q (2002) Study on instability of slopes in permafrost regions of Qinghai–Tibet High Plateau. In: The proceedings of the 5th international symposium on permafrost engineering. Permafrost Institute, SB RAS Press, Yakutsk, pp 192–197
Niu F, Xu J, Lin Z (2008) Engineering-induced environmental hazards in permafrost regions of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. In: Kane DL, Hinkel KM (eds) Ninth international conference on permafrost, vol 2. Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, pp 1287–1292
Niu FJ, Lin ZJ, Lu JH (2010) Characteristics of roadbed settlement in embankment-bridge transition section along the Qinghai–Tibet Railway in permafrost regions. Cold Reg Sci Technol. COLTEC-01580
Osterkamp TE, Viereck L, Shur Y (2000) Observations of thermokarst and its impact on boreal forests in Alaska, USA. Arct Antarct Alp Res 32:303–315
Pang QQ (2009) Active layer thickness changes of permafrost regions on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. PhD thesis of Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Qin DH (2002) Evaluation of environmental evolvement in west regions, China (Colligation volume). Science Press, Beijing
Romanovsky VE, Osterkamp TE (1995) Interannual variations of the thermal regime of the active layer and near-surface permafrost in northern Alaska. Permafr Periglac Process 6:313–335. doi:10.1002/ppp.3430060404
Romanovsky VE, Osterkamp TE (2001) Permafrost: changes and impacts. In: Paepe R, Melnikov V (eds) Permafrost response on economic development, environmental security and natural resources. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 297–315
Saaty TL (1980) The analytic hierarchy process. McGraw Hill, New York
Shiklomanov NI, Nelson FE (2007) Periglacial landforms active layer processes. Encycl Quat Sci 2138–2147. doi:10.1016/B0-44-452747-8/00104-6
Smith SL, Burgess MM (1998) Mapping the response of permafrost in Canada to climate warming. Geol Surv Can Curr Res 1998E:163–171
Smith SL, Riseborough DW (2010) Modelling the thermal response of permafrost terrain to right-of-way disturbance and climate warming. Cold Reg Sci Technol 60:92–103
Smith SL, Burgess MM, Riseborough DW (2008) Ground temperature and thaw settlement in frozen peatlands along the Norman Wells pipeline corridor, NWT Canada: 22 years of monitoring. In: Kane DL, Hinkel KM (eds) 9th international conference on permafrost, vol 2. Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, pp 1665–1670
Thie J (1974) Distribution and thawing of permafrost in the southern part of the discontinuous zone in Manitoba. Arctic 27:189–200
Tong CJ, Wu QB (1996) Permafrost zonation of ground temperature and stability of engineering constructions in the western region, China. J Glaciol Geocryol 18(SI):166–173
Vasilieva I (2004) Climate, thawing permafrost, and buildings in the Northern lands. Expert—9 Siberia, Yakutsk, 2 Oct 2004
Wang YQ (1983a) Moisture content and density of frozen soils. Professional papers on permafrost studies of Qinghai–Xizang Plateau, Science Press, Beijing, pp 60–66
Wang SL (1983b) Thermokarsts along the Qinghai–Tibet Highway. Papers anthology about the second of the national conference on permafrost. Gansu People’s Press, Lanzhou, pp 58–64
Wang SL (1990) Thaw slumping in Fenghuoshan region of the Qinghai–Tibet Highway. J Glaciol Geocryol 12:63–70
Wang SL (1993) Permafrost changes along the Qinghai–Xizang Highway during the last decades. Arid Land Geogr 16:1–8
Wang SJ (2005) Study on highway subgrade stabilization and prediction technique in Plateau permafrost region. PhD thesis of Graduate School of Southeast University, Nanjing, China
Wang SL, Zhao XF, Guo DX (1996) Response of permfrost to climate change in the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau. J Glaciol Geocryol 18(SI):157–165
Wang GS, Jin HJ, Lin Q (1998) Permafrost change natural environment engineering environment. J Glaciol Geocryol 20:444–449
Wang SL, Jin HJ, Li SX (2000) Permafrost degradation on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and its environmental impacts. Permafr Periglac Process 11:43–53
Wang SL, Niu FJ, Zhao L (2003) Thermal stability of roadbed in permafrost region along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. Cold Reg Sci Technol 37(1):25–34
Williams PJ (1995) Permafrsot and climate change: geotechnical implications. Philos Trans R Soc Lond 352(1699):347–358
Wu QB (2002) Study on change of frozen soil environment and engineering suitability under human activities. PhD thesis of Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Wu QB, Liu YZ (2004) Ground temperature monitoring and its recent change in Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Cold Reg Sci Technol 38:85–92
Wu QB, Zhang TJ (2008) Recent permafrost warming on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. J Geophys Res 113:D11308
Wu QB, Zhang TJ (2010) Changes of active layer thickness over the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau from 1995 to 2007. J Geophys Res 115(5):D09107. doi:10.1029/2009JD012974
Wu QB, Li X, Li WJ (2000) Computer simulation and mapping of the regional distribution of permafrost along the Qinghai–Xizang Highway. J Glaciol Geocryol 22:325–329
Wu QB, Liu YZ, Shi B (2002) Advance research on frozen engineering permafrost region along Qinghai-Tibet Plateau highway. J Eng Geol 10(1):55–60
Wu QB, Shen YP, Shi B (2003) Relationship between frozen soil together with its water-heat process and ecological environment in the Tibetan Plateau. J Glaciol Geocryol 25:250–255
Wu QB, Dong XF, Liu YZ (2004) Spatial distribution model of high ice content frozen soil along Qinghai–Tibetan Highway-A GIS-aided model. J Glaciol Geocryol 26(SI):137–141
Wu QB, Dong XF, Liu YZ (2005) Response of permafrost to climate change and engineering activity along the Qinghai–Tibet Highway. J Glaciol Geocryol 27:50–55
Wu QB, Cheng GD, Ma W (2007) Geotechniques of railway construction for adapting to climate warming in permafrost regions of Qinghai–Xizang. Adv Clim Change Res 3:315–321
Wu QB, Zhang TJ, Liu YZ (2010) Permafrost temperatures and thickness on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Glob Planet Change 72:32–38
Xu XZ, Fu LD (1983) Determine the maximum depth of seasonal thawing of permafrost based on the revised Stephen formula, Qinghai–Tibet permafrost research. Science Press, Beijing, pp 165–168
Xu XZ, Wang JC, Zhang LX (2010) Physics of frozen ground. Science Press, Beijing, pp 43–58
Yershov ED (1998) General geocryology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 99–119
Yu QH, Shi CH, Niu FJ (2005) Analysis of temperature controlled ventilated embankment. Cold Reg Sci Technol 42:17–24
Zernova L (2003) Has the frost cancelled the predicted global warming? The City. St. Petersburg, Russia, pp 14–15
Zhang TJ, Frauenfeld OW, Serreze MC (2004) Spatial and temporal variability in active layer thickness over the Russian Arctic drainage basin. J Geophys Res 110:D16101. doi:10.1029/2004JD005642
Zhao L, Wu TH, Ding YJ (2008) Monitoring permafrost changes on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. In: Kane DL, Hinkel KM (eds) Extended abstracts, proceedings ninth international conference on permafrost, vol 2. Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, pp 2071–2076
Zhao L, Ding YJ, Liu GY (2010a) Estimates of the reserves of ground ice in permafrost regions on the Tibetan Plateau. J Glaciol Geocryol 32:1–9
Zhao L, Wu QB, Marchenko SS, Sharkhuu N (2010b) Thermal state of permafrost and active layer in Central Asia during the International Polar Year. Permafr Periglac Process 21:198–207
Zhou YW, Guo DX, Qiu GQ, Cheng GD, Li SD (2000) Geocryology in China. Sciences Press, Beijing
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Environmental and Ecological Science Data Center for West China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, which provided the data sets “1:100,000 soil map of The People’s Republic of China” and “1:1,000,000 vegetation map of People’s Republic of China.” This research is supported in part by the National Basic Research Program (2010CB951402), the Chinese Academy of Sciences Knowledge Innovation Key Project (KZCX2-YW-Q03-08), and the Outstanding Youth Foundation Project, Natural Science Foundation of China (40625004) to Qingbai Wu.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, Z., Wu, Q. Thermal hazards zonation and permafrost change over the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Nat Hazards 61, 403–423 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-011-9923-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-011-9923-4