Changes of soil thermal and hydraulic regimes in the Heihe River Basin

Soil thermal and hydraulic regimes are critical factors influencing terrestrial processes in cold regions. Collection of field data from frozen ground has occurred at point scales, but limited data exist that characterize changes of soil thermal and hydraulic regimes at the scale of the whole Heihe River Basin. This study uses a long-term regional climate model coupled with land surface model to investigate the soil thermal and hydraulic regime changes at a large spatial scale. It also explores potential factors, including the climate and non-climate factors. Results show that there is significant variability in mean annual air temperature (MAAT) of about 0.47 °C/decade during 1980-2013. A time series of area-averaged mean annual soil temperature (MAST) over the whole Heihe River Basin shows a significant increase between 0.25 and 0.36 °C/decade during 1984-2013, with a net change of 0.9 °C. A trend of increasing wetness is found in soil moisture. Frozen days (FD) decreased significantly both in seasonally frozen ground (SFG) regions and permafrost regions, with a net change between 7 and 13 days during 1984-2013. Freezing index (FI) had a positive effect on FD, while thawing index (TI), MAAT, precipitation, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) had a negative effect. These results are important to understand dynamic mechanisms of soil freeze/thaw cycles.