Causes for the increase of early-season freezing events under a warmer climate at alpine Treelines in southeast Tibet

Abstract

Few data have demonstrated why early-season freezing events may increase under a warmer climate at alpine treelines, which is critical to understand the key limiting factors determining treeline dynamics under future climate warming. Here we test the hypothesis that the increase of early-season freezing events under a warmer climate is mainly associated with advanced onset of growing season and enhanced radiative cooling effect in the pre-monsoon season. We conducted 11-year observations of microclimate factors across north-facing and south-facing treelines in the Sergyemla Mountains, southeast Tibet. We found that the frequency, intensity, and duration of early-season freezing events were generally higher under a warmer climate on the south-facing slope or in the warmer years within a slope, in which the frequency of early-season freezing events significantly increased with increasing annual mean air-temperature. During 2006–2016, the frequency, intensity and duration of early-season freezing events typically showed a negative correlation with the onset date of growing season, while their frequency was positively correlated with the early-season global radiation. In each of both slopes, global radiation was significantly higher and long-wave radiation balance was much more negative on days with daily minimum air-temperature (Tmin) < 0 °C than with Tmin > 0 °C, indicating the generality of radiative cooling effect on early-season freezing events at high elevations. Our data support the hypothesis, revealing physical mechanisms for the increase of early-season freezing events with climate warming. The physical mechanisms should provide a general explanation for the topography-dependent pattern of tree species distribution and alpine treeline stability under climate warming in high mountainous regions like the Himalayas.