Recent advances in hydrology studies under changing permafrost on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau

Abstract

Due to the great influences of both climate warming and human activities, permafrost on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau (QXP) has been undergoing considerable degradation. Continuous degradation of plateau permafrost dramatically modifies the regional water cycle and hydrological processes, affecting the hydrogeological conditions, and ground hydrothermal status in cold regions. Permafrost thawing impacts the ecological environment, engineering facilities, and carbon storage functions, releasing some major greenhouse gases and exacerbating climate change. Despite the utilization of advanced research methodologies to investigate the changing hydrological processes and the corresponding influencing factors in permafrost regions, there still exist knowledge gaps in multivariate data, quantitative analysis of permafrost degradation's impact on various water bodies, and systematic hydrological modeling on the QXP. This review summarizes the main research methods in permafrost hydrology and elaborates on the impacts of permafrost degradation on regional precipitation distribution patterns, changes in surface runoff, expansion of thermokarst lakes/ponds, and groundwater dynamics on the QXP. Then, we discuss the current inadequacies and future research priorities, including multiple methods, observation data, and spatial and temporal scales, to provide a reference for a comprehensive analysis of the hydrological and environmental effects of permafrost degradation on the QXP under a warming climate.