Microclimate Driven Grassland Greenness Asymmetry Between West- and East- Facing Slopes on the Tibetan Plateau

IF 4.6 1区地球科学 Q1 GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Geophysical Research Letters Pub Date : 2025-01-20 DOI:10.1029/2024GL113327

Jiangliu Xie, Xinyu Yan, Rui Chen, Yajie Yang, Yungang Cao, Yi Jian, Gaofei Yin

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Abstract

Slope orientation creates microclimate by modulating water and heat flux between the land surface and the atmosphere, thereby regulating vegetation growth and its response to background climate change. However, the potential asymmetry in vegetation greenness between west- and east-facing slopes remains underexplored. Analyzing the normalized difference vegetation index derived from Landsat reflectances in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) grassland, we identified that west-facing slopes were greener than east-facing slopes in the western TP, while the opposite appeared in the eastern TP. We also detected a stronger greening trend on west- than east- facing slopes over the entire TP grassland from 1991 to 2020. These disparities result from distinct microclimates on the two contrasting slopes: west-facing slopes tend to be wetter and colder than east-facing slopes under similar background climate. Our findings underscore the crucial role of slope orientation in shaping vegetation greenness and its response to climate change.

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小气候驱动的青藏高原东西坡草地绿度不对称

坡向通过调节地表和大气之间的水和热通量来创造小气候，从而调节植被生长及其对背景气候变化的响应。然而，在朝西和朝东的斜坡之间潜在的植被绿化率不对称仍未得到充分的研究。通过对青藏高原（TP）草地Landsat反射率归一化植被指数的分析，发现青藏高原西部面向西的斜坡比面向东的斜坡更绿，而东部则相反。从1991年到2020年，整个青藏高原草地朝西的绿化趋势明显大于朝东的绿化趋势。这些差异是由不同的小气候造成的：在相似的背景气候下，朝西的斜坡比朝东的斜坡更潮湿和寒冷。我们的研究结果强调了坡向在塑造植被绿化率及其对气候变化的响应中的关键作用。

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来源期刊

Geophysical Research Letters 地学-地球科学综合

CiteScore

9.00

自引率

9.60%

发文量

1588

审稿时长

2.2 months

期刊介绍： Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) publishes high-impact, innovative, and timely research on major scientific advances in all the major geoscience disciplines. Papers are communications-length articles and should have broad and immediate implications in their discipline or across the geosciences. GRLmaintains the fastest turn-around of all high-impact publications in the geosciences and works closely with authors to ensure broad visibility of top papers.