Permafrost temperature baseline at 15 meters depth in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (2010–2019)

Abstract

Abstract. The ground temperature at a fixed depth is a crucial boundary condition for understanding the properties of deep permafrost. However, the commonly used mean annual ground temperature at the depth of the zero annual amplitude (MAGT_dzaa) has application limitations due to large spatial heterogeneity in observed depths. In this study, we utilized 231 borehole records of mean annual ground temperature at a depth of 15 meters (MAGT_15m) from 2010 to 2019 and employed support vector regression (SVR) to predict gridded MAGT_15m data at a spatial resolution of nearly 1 km across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP). SVR predictions demonstrated a R² value of 0.48 with a negligible negative overestimation (-0.01 °C). The average MAGT_15m of the QTP permafrost was -1.85 °C (±1.58 °C), with 90% of values ranging from -5.1 °C to -0.1 °C and 51.2% exceeding -1.5 °C. The freezing degree days (FDD) was the most significant predictor (p<0.001) of MAGT_15m, followed by thawing degree days (TDD), mean annual precipitation (MAP), and soil bulk density (BD) (p<0.01). Overall, the MAGT_15m increased from northwest to southeast and decreased with elevation. Lower MAGT_15m values are prevail in high mountainous areas with steep slopes. The MAGT_15m was the lowest in the basins of the Amu Darya, Indus, and Tarim rivers (-2.7 to -2.9 °C) and the highest in the Yangtze and Yellow River basins (-0.8 to -0.9 °C). The baseline dataset of MAGT_15m during 2010–2019 for the QTP permafrost will facilitates simulations of deep permafrost characteristics and provides fundamental data for permafrost model validation and improvement.