Soil Freeze Thaw Research Articles

Response of soil bacterial communities to organic carbon input under soil freeze-thaw in forest ecosystems

The soil microbial community controls the biogeochemical cycle of elements critical to plant growth. Different carbon input modes have different effects on soil carbon storage and the microbial community, but the effects of carbon input control on soil microbial diversity and community structure in temperate forests remain unclear. We used high-throughput 16SrRNA gene sequencing and ecological network analysis methods to analyze the soil bacterial community, symbiotic network, and key species of three different carbon input treatments (litter removal, root removal, litter and root removal) in temperate natural secondary forests during the freeze-thaw season and growing season. The results showed that the change in the carbon source input led to a change in the way in which soil bacteria used carbon, which was mainly manifested as follows: (1) The relative abundance of Acidobacteria, which was oligotrophic bacteria, significantly decreased in the sample plots where the root system was removed. (2) In the litter removal treatment, the abundance of bacteria with functions related to the absorption of CH4 decreased. (3) The correlation between the module characteristic genes in the bacterial network analysis and the physical and chemical properties of soil, CK modules were grouped separately, and the change in the correlation may also indicate the change in the way soil bacteria use carbon. Second, the influence of belowground roots on the soil bacterial community structure was more significant than that of aboveground litter. The root system had a greater influence on the soil bacterial community. Third, the decrease of organic carbon input reduced the stability of the soil bacterial network, and the proportion of positive connections in the bacterial network for litter removal and root treatment increased significantly, indicating that these bacterial communities had the same change trend as the fluctuation of the environment. Finally, the freeze-thaw season had a greater impact than the growing season on bacterial diversity, community structure, and function. The freeze-thaw process allowed the bacterial community to respond to root removal more significantly, and the structural changes were mainly due to changes in temperature, water content, dissolved organic carbon, and nitrate nitrogen.

Soil Moisture but Not Warming Dominates Nitrous Oxide Emissions During Freeze–Thaw Cycles in a Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau Alpine Meadow With Discontinuous Permafrost

Large quantities of organic matter are stored in frozen soils (permafrost) within the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP). The most of QTP regions in particular have experienced significant warming and wetting over the past 50 years, and this warming trend is projected to intensify in the future. Such climate change will likely alter the soil freeze–thaw pattern in permafrost active layer and toward significant greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) release. However, the interaction effect of warming and altered soil moisture on N2O emission during freezing and thawing is unclear. Here, we used simulation experiments to test how changes in N2O flux relate to different thawing temperatures (T5–5°C, T10–10°C, and T20–20°C) and soil volumetric water contents (VWCs, W15–15%, W30–30%, and W45–45%) under 165 F–T cycles in topsoil (0–20 cm) of an alpine meadow with discontinuous permafrost in the QTP. First, in contrast to the prevailing view, soil moisture but not thawing temperature dominated the large N2O pulses during F–T events. The maximum emissions, 1,123.16–5,849.54 μg m–2 h–1, appeared in the range of soil VWC from 17% to 38%. However, the mean N2O fluxes had no significant difference between different thawing temperatures when soil was dry or waterlogged. Second, in medium soil moisture, low thawing temperature is more able to promote soil N2O emission than high temperature. For example, the peak value (5,849.54 μg m–2 h–1) and cumulative emissions (366.6 mg m–2) of W30T5 treatment were five times and two to four times higher than W30T10 and W30T20, respectively. Third, during long-term freeze–thaw cycles, the patterns of cumulative N2O emissions were related to soil moisture. treatments; on the contrary, the cumulative emissions of W45 treatments slowly increased until more than 80 cycles. Finally, long-term freeze–thaw cycles could improve nitrogen availability, prolong N2O release time, and increase N2O cumulative emission in permafrost active layer. Particularly, the high emission was concentrated in the first 27 and 48 cycles in W15 and W30, respectively. Overall, our study highlighted that large emissions of N2O in F–T events tend to occur in medium moisture soil at lower thawing temperature; the increased number of F–T cycles may enhance N2O emission and nitrogen mineralization in permafrost active layer.

Spatial–temporal variations in riverine carbon strongly influenced by local hydrological events in an alpine catchment

Abstract. Headwater streams drain >70 % of global land areas but are poorly monitored compared with large rivers. The small size and low water buffering capacity of headwater streams may result in a high sensitivity to local hydrological alterations and different carbon transport patterns from large rivers. Furthermore, alpine headwater streams on the “Asian water tower”, i.e., Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, are heavily affected by thawing of frozen soils in spring as well as monsoonal precipitation in summer, which may present contrasting spatial–temporal variations in carbon transport compared to tropical and temperate streams and strongly influence the export of carbon locked in seasonally frozen soils. To illustrate the unique hydro-biogeochemistry of riverine carbon in Qinghai–Tibetan headwater streams, here we carry out a benchmark investigation on the riverine carbon transport in the Shaliu River (a small alpine river integrating headwater streams) based on annual flux monitoring, sampling at a high spatial resolution in two different seasons and hydrological event monitoring. We show that riverine carbon fluxes in the Shaliu River were dominated by dissolved inorganic carbon, peaking in the summer due to high discharge brought by the monsoon. Combining seasonal sampling along the river and monitoring of soil–river carbon transfer during spring thaw, we also show that both dissolved and particulate forms of riverine carbon increased downstream in the pre-monsoon season due to increasing contribution of organic matter derived from thawed soils along the river. By comparison, riverine carbon fluctuated in the summer, likely associated with sporadic inputs of organic matter supplied by local precipitation events during the monsoon season. Furthermore, using lignin phenol analysis for both riverine organic matter and soils in the basin, we show that the higher acid-to-aldehyde (Ad/Al) ratios of riverine lignin in the monsoon season reflect a larger contribution of topsoil likely via increased surface runoff compared with the pre-monsoon season when soil leachate lignin Ad/Al ratios were closer to those in the subsoil than topsoil solutions. Overall, these findings highlight the unique patterns and strong links of carbon transport in alpine headwater catchments with local hydrological events. Given the projected climate warming on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, thawing of frozen soils and alterations of precipitation regimes may significantly influence the alpine headwater carbon transport, with critical effects on the biogeochemical cycles of the downstream rivers. The alpine headwater catchments may also be utilized as sentinels for climate-induced changes in the hydrological pathways and/or biogeochemistry of the small basin.

A study on frost heave and thaw settlement of soil subjected to cyclic freeze-thaw conditions based on hydro-thermal-mechanical coupling analysis

Frost heave and thaw settlement are the main cause for damaging the engineering structures in the region of seasonally frozen soil. The soil freeze-thaw (FT) deformation is a typical complex result of multiple physical fields and involves the process of water transfer, heat transfer, ice-water phase transition and stress redistribution. While the theory and model of frost heave have been studied for decades, less attention has been paid to the simulation for soil deformation under FT cycles. In this study, coupled equations for water, heat and the deformation of frozen soil are derived based on previous theories and are realized in numerical software. The volumetric water content of the frozen soil in the experiment was tested by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology, and the obtained data were imported into the model. Experimental soil samples were arranged in improved model equipment, and the temperature and frost heave at different heights of the soil column varied with time. The model validity and applicability based on the hydro-thermal-mechanical coupled equations is verified by comparing the results of both the experiment and numerical simulation. In this research, from the curves of the soil temperature change, water content distribution, water flux occurred at the soil bottom surface, as well as the displacement of frost heave and thaw settlement, and the pore size distribution, the characteristics of the soil subjected to cyclic FT conditions was analyzed. The existed theoretical model cannot well model the soil FT deformation. Therefore, this study may provide references for developing more accurate theoretical models on the soil subjected to FT cycles.

The Influence Mechanism of Freeze-Thaw on Soil Erosion: A Review

As an important type of soil erosion, freeze-thaw erosion occurs primarily at high latitude and altitude. The overview on the effect of freeze-thaw on soil erosion was provided. Soil erosion was affected by freeze-thaw processes, as thawing and water erosion reinforce each other. Remote sensing provided an unprecedented approach for characterizing the timing, magnitude, and patterns of large-scale freeze-thaw and soil erosion changes. Furthermore, the essence of soil freeze-thaw was the freeze and thaw of soil moisture in the pores of soil. Freeze-thaw action mainly increased soil erodibility and made it more vulnerable to erosion by destroying soil structure, changing soil water content, bulk density, shear strength and aggregate stability, etc. However, the type and magnitude of changes of soil properties have been related to soil texture, water content, experimental conditions and the degree of exposure to freeze-thaw. The use of indoor and field experiments to further reveal the effect of freeze-thaw on soil erosion would facilitate improved forecasting, as well as prevention of soil erosion during thawing in regions with freeze-thaw cycles.

Deterioration effect of freeze-thaw on mechanical properties of roadbed clay under unfavorable conditions

Freeze-thaw seriously deteriorates the engineering properties of roadbed soil, and it will adversely affect the performance and service life of roads in seasonally frozen regions. Freeze-thaw and triaxial tests were conducted on a kind of roadbed clay to characterize the change rules of failure strength, cohesion, and friction angle under controlled thawing time, freezing temperature, moisture content, compaction degree, and numbers of freeze-thaw cycle. The thawed specimens had the weakest mechanical properties after thawing 2 h. Failure strength and cohesion of the freeze-thaw soil decreased considerably with the dropped freezing temperature, increasing moisture content, and improved compaction degree. The change in friction angle was less remarkable and exhibited an opposite trend with the freezing temperature and compaction degree. There was a great reduction in failure strength and cohesion after the first few cycles of freeze-thaw, and then a plateau was reached, whereas the friction angle decreased after one to two cycles and then recovered to a value higher than that of the unfrozen soil. The results demonstrated that the combined action of different factors should be considered to better understand the deterioration effect of freeze-thaw cycles under unfavorable conditions.

The effects of soil freeze\u2013thaw processes on water and salt migrations in the western Songnen Plain, China

Seasonally freeze-thaw (FT) processes affect soil salinisation in cold and arid regions. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms behind soil salinisation during winter and spring is crucial for management strategies effectively alleviating this. This study aimed to explore the soil FT characteristics and their influences on soil water and salt migrations to clarify the underlying mechanism of the springtime soil salinisation in the western Songnen Plain, China. The spatiotemporal distributions of soil water and salt, frozen depths and soil temperatures were examined at depths of 0–200 cm in three typical landscapes (farmland, Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel (LT) grassland and alkali-spot (AS) land) from October 2015 to June 2016. Results indicated that the strongest freezing process occurred in AS land, which was characterised by the deepest frost depth (165 cm) and highest freezing rate (3.58 cm/d), followed by LT grassland, and then farmland. The freeze-induced upward redistribution and enrichment of soil water and salt caused the rise and expansion of the soil salification layer, which was the main source of explosive accumulations of surface salt in springtime. Therefore, the FT processes contributed to the surface soil salinisation and alkalisation. Landscapes also affected soil water and salt migrations during FT processes, with the trend being AS land > LT grassland > farmland.

Dynamics of above- and belowground responses of silver birch saplings and soil gases to soil freezing and waterlogging during dormancy.

Winter precipitation and soil freeze–thaw events have been predicted to increase in boreal regions with climate change. This may expose tree roots to waterlogging (WL) and soil freezing (Fr) more than in the current climate and therefore affect tree growth and survival. Using a whole-tree approach, we studied the responses of silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.) saplings, growing in mineral soil, to 6-week Fr and WL in factorial combinations during dormancy, with accompanying changes in soil gas concentrations.Physiological activation (dark-acclimated chlorophyll fluorescence and chlorophyll content index) and growth of leaves and shoot elongation and stem diameter growth started earlier in Fr than NoFr (soil not frozen). The starch content of leaves was temporarily higher in Fr than NoFr in the latter part of the growing season. Short and long root production and longevity decreased, and mortality increased by soil Fr, while there were no significant effects of WL. Increased fine root damage was followed by increased compensatory root growth. At the beginning of the growing season, stem sap flow increased fastest in Fr + WL, with some delay in both NoWL (without WL) treatments. At the end of the follow-up growing season, the hydraulic conductance and impedance loss factor of roots were higher in Fr than in NoFr, but there were no differences in above- and belowground biomasses. The concentration of soil carbon dioxide increased and methane decreased by soil Fr at the end of dormancy. At the beginning of the growing season, the concentration of nitrous oxide was higher in WL than in NoWL and higher in Fr than in NoFr. In general, soil Fr had more consistent effects on soil greenhouse gas concentrations than WL. To conclude, winter-time WL alone is not as harmful for roots as WL during the growing season.

Potential shifts in climate zones under a future global warming scenario using soil moisture classification

Climate zones fundamentally shape the patterns of the terrestrial environment and human habitation. How global warming alters their current distribution is an important question that has yet to be properly addressed. Using root-layer soil moisture as an indicator, this study investigates potential future changes in climate zones with the perturbed parameter ensemble of climate projections by the HadGEM3-GC3.05 model under the CMIP5 RCP8.5 scenario. The total area of global drylands (including arid, semiarid, and subhumid zones) can potentially expand by 10.5% (ensemble range is 0.6–19.0%) relative to the historical period of 1976–2005 by the end of the 21st century. This global rate of dryland expansion is smaller than the estimate using the ratio between annual precipitation total and potential evapotranspiration (19.2%, with an ensemble range of 6.7–33.1%). However, regional expansion rates over the mid-high latitudes can be much greater using soil moisture than using atmospheric indicators alone. This result is mainly because of frozen soil thawing and accelerated evapotranspiration with Arctic greening and polar warming, which can be detected in soil moisture but not from atmosphere-only indices. The areal expansion consists of 7.7% (–8.3 to 23.6%) semiarid zone growth and 9.5% (3.1–20.0%) subhumid growth at the expense of the 2.3% (–10.4 to 7.4%) and 12.6% (–29.5 to 2.0%) contraction of arid and humid zones. Climate risks appear in the peripheries of subtype zones across drylands. Potential alteration of the traditional humid zone, such as those in the mid-high latitudes and the Amazon region, highlights the accompanying vulnerability for local ecosystems.

Last-decade progress in understanding and modeling the land surface processes on the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract. Land surface models (LSMs) that simulate water and energy exchanges at the land–atmosphere interface are a key component of Earth system models. The Tibetan Plateau (TP) drives the Asian monsoon through surface heating and thus plays a key role in regulating the climate system in the Northern Hemisphere. Therefore, it is vital to understand and represent well the land surface processes on the TP. After an early review that identified key issues in the understanding and modeling of land surface processes on the TP in 2009, much progress has been made in the last decade in developing new land surface schemes and supporting datasets. This review summarizes the major advances. (i) An enthalpy-based approach was adopted to enhance the description of cryosphere processes such as glacier and snow mass balance and soil freeze–thaw transition. (ii) Parameterization of the vertical mixing process was improved in lake models to ensure reasonable heat transfer to the deep water and to the near-surface atmosphere. (iii) New schemes were proposed for modeling water flow and heat transfer in soils accounting for the effects of vertical soil heterogeneity due to the presence of high soil organic matter content and dense vegetation roots in surface soils or gravel in soil columns. (iv) Supporting datasets of meteorological forcing and soil parameters were developed by integrating multi-source datasets including ground-based observations. Perspectives on the further improvement of land surface modeling on the TP are provided, including the continuous updating of supporting datasets, parameter estimation through assimilation of satellite observations, improvement of snow and lake processes, adoption of data-driven and artificial intelligence methods, and the development of an integrated LSM for the TP.

Responses of soil WEOM quantity and quality to freeze–thaw and litter manipulation with contrasting soil water content: A laboratory experiment

Future climatic change is likely to increase the occurrence of soil freeze–thaw (FT) events in high latitude and/or high altitude zones, which can substantially influence the dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) released into the soils. However, it is not clear how the quantity and quality of soil DOM respond to changing FT patterns under different soil moisture and litter manipulation conditions in northern temperate forest stands. In this study, litter-amended and non-amended forest soils were incubated for 360 days at three soil moisture levels (30%, 60%, and 90% water-filled pore space) and three intensities of FT disturbance (low, high, and none). We quantified heterotrophic respiration, enzyme activity, microbial biomass, and water-extractable organic matter (WEOM) as a proxy for DOM in soils during the incubation experiment. The quality of WEOM was characterized by biodegradability, UV absorbance and parallel factor analysis modelling of fluorescence excitation emission matrices. Concentrations of water-extractable organic carbon (WEOC) and biodegradable WEOC declined continuously in all treatments over the 360-day incubation period. The dominant component of fluorescent WEOM shifted from humic- and fulvic- like components during the first 108 days of incubation, to protein-like components of microbial origin, characterized by high aromaticity, at the end of the incubation period. Litter amendment, FT disturbance, and their interaction increased WEOC concentrations in soils during the early 108-day incubation period, particularly in soils with low moisture and high FT intensity, but these increases disappeared after 252 days incubation at 15 °C. Litter-derived fluorescent WEOM in soils without FT disturbance was dominated by protein-like components after 14 days of incubation, but these were replaced by humic- and fulvic-like components after 108 days. This replacement effect was weaker in soils with FT disturbance, which we attribute to changes in microbial properties, including enzyme activity, microbial biomass and activity.

A long-term (2005–2016) dataset of hourly integrated land–atmosphere interaction observations on the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract. The Tibetan Plateau (TP) plays a critical role in influencing regional and global climate, via both thermal and dynamical mechanisms. Meanwhile, as the largest high-elevation part of the cryosphere outside the polar regions, with vast areas of mountain glaciers, permafrost and seasonally frozen ground, the TP is characterized as an area sensitive to global climate change. However, meteorological stations are biased and sparsely distributed over the TP, owing to the harsh environmental conditions, high elevations, complex topography and heterogeneous surfaces. Moreover, due to the weak representation of the stations, atmospheric conditions and the local land–atmosphere coupled system over the TP as well as its effects on surrounding regions are poorly quantified. This paper presents a long-term (2005–2016) in situ observational dataset of hourly land–atmosphere interaction observations from an integrated high-elevation and cold-region observation network, composed of six field stations on the TP. These in situ observations contain both meteorological and micrometeorological measurements including gradient meteorology, surface radiation, eddy covariance (EC), soil temperature and soil water content profiles. Meteorological data were monitored by automatic weather stations (AWSs) or planetary boundary layer (PBL) observation systems. Multilayer soil temperature and moisture were recorded to capture vertical hydrothermal variations and the soil freeze–thaw process. In addition, an EC system consisting of an ultrasonic anemometer and an infrared gas analyzer was installed at each station to capture the high-frequency vertical exchanges of energy, momentum, water vapor and carbon dioxide within the atmospheric boundary layer. The release of these continuous and long-term datasets with hourly resolution represents a leap forward in scientific data sharing across the TP, and it has been partially used in the past to assist in understanding key land surface processes. This dataset is described here comprehensively for facilitating a broader multidisciplinary community by enabling the evaluation and development of existing or new remote sensing algorithms as well as geophysical models for climate research and forecasting. The whole datasets are freely available at the Science Data Bank (https://doi.org/10.11922/sciencedb.00103; Ma et al., 2020) and additionally at the National Tibetan Plateau Data Center (https://doi.org/10.11888/Meteoro.tpdc.270910, Ma 2020).

Numerical Simulation of Thawing Process in Frozen Soil

Permafrost has been thawing faster due to climate change which would release greenhouse gases, change the hydrological regimes, affect buildings above, and so on. It is necessary to study the thawing process of frozen soil. A water-heat coupling model for frozen soil thawing is established on Darcy’s law and Heat Transfer in Porous Media interfaces in Comsol Multiphysics 5.5. Three curves of total liquid water volume, minimum temperature, and total heat flux in the thawing process are obtained from a numerical simulation. The distributions of liquid water, temperature, and pressure based on time are simulated too. The liquid water distribution is consistent with the total liquid water volume curve. The temperature distribution is confirmed by the minimum temperature and total heat flux curve. The pressure distribution represents ice in the frozen soil that generates negative pressure during the melting process. The numerical simulation research in this article deepens the understanding of the internal evolution in the process of frozen soil thawing and has a certain reference value for subsequent experimental research and related applications.

Effects of freeze-thaw on dissolved nitrogen pool, nitrogen transformation processes and diversity of bacterial community in temperate soils

Soil freeze-thaw could affect nitrogen (N) availability. The N transformation is closely related with soil microbes. The effect of soil freeze-thaw on the soil bacterial communities in the temperate zone is still not clear. We hypothesized that freeze-thaw events could affect the diversity and composition of bacterial communities, thereby changing the contents of soil dissolved nitrogen pools as well as the N transformation process. In this study, microcosms with different freeze-thaw cycles (six and fifteen cycles) were designed, with the constant temperature at 2 ℃ as the control. The results showed that the contents of dissolved total nitrogen, dissolved inorganic nitrogen, microbial biomass nitrogen and net nitrogen mineralization rate were decreased significantly in response to increasing cycles of freeze-thaw. The number of freeze-thaw cycles did not affect bacterial α diversity. In contrast, the duration of incubation was positively correlated with bacterial α diversity including Chao1 and Shannon indices. Freeze-thaw treatment significantly affected the function and composition of bacterial communities, but the number of freeze-thaw cycles had little effect on the bacterial community structure. The partial redundant analysis showed that under freeze-thaw treatments, both the composition and function of bacterial community were significantly related to soil dissolved N pools and N transformation processes.

Soils from cold and snowy temperate deciduous forests release more nitrogen and phosphorus after soil freeze–thaw cycles than soils from warmer, snow-poor conditions

Abstract. The effects of global warming are most pronounced in winter. A reduction in snow cover due to warmer atmospheric temperature in formerly cold ecosystems, however, could counteract an increase in soil temperature by reduction of insulation. Thus, soil freeze–thaw cycles (FTCs) might increase in frequency and magnitude with warming, potentially leading to a disturbance of the soil biota and release of nutrients. Here, we assessed how soil freeze–thaw magnitude and frequency affect short-term release of nutrients in temperate deciduous forest soils by conducting a three-factorial gradient experiment with ex situ soil samples in climate chambers. The fully crossed experiment included soils from forests dominated by Fagus sylvatica (European beech) that originate from different winter climate (mean coldest month temperature range ΔT>4 K), a range of FTC magnitudes from no (T=4.0 ∘C) to strong (T=-11.3 ∘C) soil frost, and a range of FTC frequencies (f=0–7). We hypothesized that higher FTC magnitude and frequency will increase the release of nutrients. Furthermore, soils from cold climates with historically stable winter soil temperatures due to deep snow cover will be more responsive to FTCs than soils from warmer, more fluctuating winter soil climates. FTC magnitude and, to a lesser extent, also FTC frequency resulted in increased nitrate, ammonium, and phosphate release almost exclusively in soils from cold, snow-rich sites. The hierarchical regression analyses of our three-factorial gradient experiment revealed that the effects of climatic origin (mean minimum winter temperature) followed a sigmoidal curve for all studied nutrients and was modulated either by FTC magnitude (phosphate) or by FTC magnitude and frequency (nitrate, ammonium) in complex twofold and, for all studied nutrients, in threefold interactions of the environmental drivers. Compared to initial concentrations, soluble nutrients were predicted to increase to 250 % for nitrate (up to 16 µg NO3-N kg−1DM), to 110 % for ammonium (up to 60 µg NH4-N kg−1DM), and to 400 % for phosphate (2.2 µg PO4-P kg−1DM) at the coldest site for the strongest magnitude and highest frequency. Soils from warmer sites showed little nutrient release and were largely unaffected by the FTC treatments except for above-average nitrate release at the warmest sites in response to extremely cold FTC magnitude. We suggest that currently warmer forest soils have historically already passed the point of high responsiveness to winter climate change, displaying some form of adaptation either in the soil biotic composition or in labile nutrient sources. Our data suggest that previously cold sites, which will lose their protective snow cover during climate change, are most vulnerable to increasing FTC frequency and magnitude, resulting in strong shifts in nitrogen and phosphorus release. In nutrient-poor European beech forests of the studied Pleistocene lowlands, nutrients released over winter may be leached out, inducing reduced plant growth rates in the following growing season.

Effect of root litter addition on nitrogen mineralization rate under laboratory low‐temperature conditions in soil from a Japanese northern hardwood forest

AbstractSoil freeze–thaw can alter the soil nitrogen (N) mineralization rate by increasing root litter. However, the mechanism remains unclear. We compared the effect of adding root litter from two plant species on soil production rate and soil production rate under low‐temperature conditions in laboratory incubation. Root litter of oak (Quercus crispula) or dwarf bamboo, Sasa (Sasa nipponica) was added to soil and incubated under nonfrost and soil freeze–thaw treatments. We monitored temporal change of net/gross production rate and production rate throughout the soil frost period and the following melting period. We measured dissolved organic N (DON) in root litter leachate under the two temperature treatments. The soil N mineralization with Sasa root litter was higher than that with oak root litter in the two temperature treatments. The DON in root litter leachate of Sasa was larger than that of oak. The effect of root litter addition on net production rate was larger than that on net production rate. The higher net production rate of soil with Sasa was considered to be caused by higher DON in leachate from root litter of Sasa. The higher inducement of N mineralization of Sasa root litter than oak root litter was related to quantity of organic N in the root litter leachate.

First Measurement of Soil Freeze/Thaw Cycles in the Tibetan Plateau Using CYGNSS GNSS-R Data

The process of soil freezing and thawing refers to the alternating phase change of liquid water and solid water in the soil, accompanied by a large amount of latent heat exchange. It plays a vital role in the land water process and is an important indicator of climate change. The Tibetan Plateau in China is known as the “roof of the world”, and it is one of the most prominent physical characteristics is the freezing and thawing process of the soil. For the first time, this paper utilizes the spaceborne GNSS-R mission, i.e., CYGNSS (Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System), to study the feasibility of monitoring the soil freeze-thaw (FT) cycles on the Tibetan Plateau. In the theoretical analysis part, model simulations show that there are abrupt changes in soil permittivities and surface reflectivities as the soil FT occurs. The CYGNSS reflectivities from January 2018 to January 2020 are compared with the SMAP FT state. The relationship between CYGNSS reflectivity and SMAP soil moisture within this time series is analyzed and compared. The results show that the effect of soil moisture on reflectivity is very small and can be ignored. The periodic oscillation change of CYGNSS reflectivity is almost the same as the changes in SMAP FT data. Freeze-thaw conversion is the main factor affecting CYGNSS reflectivity. The periodical change of CYGNSS reflectivity in the 2 years indicates that it is mainly caused by soil FT cycles. It is feasible to use CYGNSS to monitor the soil FT cycles in the Tibetan Plateau. This research expands the current application field of CYGNSS and opens a new chapter in the study of cryosphere using spaceborne GNSS-R with high spatial-temporal resolution.

Comparing global passive microwave freeze/thaw records: Investigating differences between Ka- and L-band products

The NASA L-Band Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite mission launched in 2015 has produced soil moisture and freeze thaw (FT) products at a global scale. While the use of L-band (1.41 GHz) passive microwave radiometry (P-MW) has proven useful in detecting changes in the surface FT state, these classifications have not been comprehensively assessed against similar existing FT products, such as the global FT record from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I, Ka-band, 37.0 GHz) as part of the FT Earth System Data Record (FT-ESDR). In order to fill in this gap, this study investigates regions in which FT classifications diverge and identifies potential sources of classification variability. The SMAP and SSM/I FT records are compared over an extended period covering multiple seasonal cycles from April 2015 through December 2017. The spatially and temporally varying relationship between these products is examined in relation to climate (Köppen-Geiger climate classes and air temperature), MODIS (MoDerate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) land cover, and topography (using Global Multi-resolution Terrain Elevation Data). SMAP and SSM/I FT product agreement proportion (Ap) was corrected for seasonality and then separated by land cover classes and compared to the global Ap mean. The agreement between these products vary most notably during freeze and thaw onset and in areas near abundant surface water, snow and ice, and wetlands. Relative to other vegetation types, reduced agreement between FT products is also observed over grasslands, sparsely vegetated lands, as well as mixed and evergreen forests. Distinct seasonal differences in FT classification agreement were also detected between products over cold arid regions and between continental and temperate classes. Similarly, as topographic complexity increases, a decreasing trend in agreement between L- and Ka-band FT products is observed. While reiterating challenges in FT classifications identified by prior studies, this work also contributes new insights by providing detailed geospatial and seasonal analyses into the factors contributing to FT product divergence.

Soil Microbial Community Response Differently to the Frequency and Strength of Freeze-Thaw Events in a Larix gmelinii Forest in the Daxing'an Mountains, China.

Sustained climate warming increases the frequency and strength of soil freeze–thaw (FT) events, which strongly affect the properties of soil microbial communities. To explore the responses and mechanisms of the frequency and strength of freeze–thaw events on soil microbial communities, a lab-scale FT test was conducted on forest soil in permafrost region from the Daxing’an Mountains, China. The number of FT cycles (FTN) had a greater effect on microbial communities than FT temperature fluctuation (FTF). The FTN and FTF explained 20.9 and 10.8% of the variation in microbial community structure, respectively, and 22.9 and 11.6% of the variation in enzyme activities, respectively. The total and subgroup microbial biomass, the ratio of fungi to bacteria (F/B), and C- and N-hydrolyzing enzyme activities all decreased with an increase in FTN. Among microbial groups, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) were the most sensitive to FT events. Based on the changes of F/B and AMF, the reduction in soil carbon sequestration caused by frequent FT events can be explained from a perspective of microorganisms. Based on redundancy analysis and Mental Test, soil moisture, total organic carbon, and total nitrogen were the major factors affecting microorganisms in FT events. In the forest ecosystem, soil water and fertilizer were important factors to resist the damage of FT to microorganism, and sufficient water and fertilizer can lighten the damage of FT events to microorganisms. As a result of this study, the understanding of the responses of soil microorganisms to the variation in FT patterns caused by climate changes has increased, which will lead to better predictions of the effects of likely climate change on soil microorganisms.

Impacts of Soil Freeze–Thaw Process and Snow Melting Over Tibetan Plateau on Asian Summer Monsoon System: A Review and Perspective

Surface diabatic heating over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is crucial for the onset and development of Asian summer monsoon (ASM), which is closely connected with the snow-melting and freeze-thaw (SM-FT) processes in spring. This study reviews the recent processes about studies on the effects of SM-FT on climate system over ASM region. This review has showed that, SM-FT in spring plays a dominant role in seasonal and inter-annual variations of surface diabatic heating over TP, which also have significant relationship with ASM activity. Moreover, anomalies of SM-FT over TP significantly affect summer precipitation in Eastern China (EC). FT-SM in spring over TP would be a robust factor in ASM system. The possible mechanism associated with the impacts of SM-FT on the summer general circulation in East Asia is also discussed. Under the climate change background, variations in regimes of frozen soil and snow have great potential effects on climate in East Asia and globe. However, great uncertainties in the estimation of diabatic heating over TP (especially over the western TP) during spring still confine our understanding about the effects of TP thermal forcing on ASM activity. It’s suggested that, improvement in the simulation of SM-FT process in models is an effective approach for reducing biases of climate projection in future.