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Sciences in Cold and Arid Regions ›› 2017, Vol. 9 ›› Issue (2): 142-157.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1226.2017.00142

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Radiation balance and the response of albedo to environmental factors above two alpine ecosystems in the eastern Tibetan Plateau

ShaoYing Wang1, Yu Zhang1,2, ShiHua Lyu2, LunYu Shang1, YouQi Su1, HanHui Zhu1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Land Surface and Climate Change in Cold and Arid Regions, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gausu 730000, China;
    2. College of Atmospheric Sciences, Chendu University of Information Technology, Chengdu, Sichuan 610225, China
  • Received:2016-11-23 Revised:2017-01-20 Published:2018-11-23
  • Contact: Yu Zhang, Key Laboratory of Land Surface and Climate Change in Cold and Arid Regions, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences. No. 320, West Donggang Road, Lanzhou, Gausu 730000, China. Tel: +86-931-4967092; E-mail: yuzhang@lzb.ac.cn E-mail:yuzhang@lzb.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 91537106, 41405016, 41275016, 91537104, and 41605011).

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Abstract: Understanding the energy balance on the Tibetan Plateau is important for better prediction of global climate change. To characterize the energy balance on the Plateau, we examined the radiation balance and the response of albedo to environmental factors above an alpine meadow and an alpine wetland surfaces in the eastern Tibetan Plateau, using 2014 data. Although our two sites belong to the same climatic background, and are close geographically, the annual incident solar radiation at the alpine meadow site (6,447 MJ/(m2·a)) was about 1.1 times that at the alpine wetland site (6,012 MJ/(m2·a)), due to differences in the cloudiness between our two sites. The alpine meadow and the alpine wetland emitted about 38% and 42%, respectively, of annual incident solar radiation back into atmosphere in the form of net longwave radiation; and they reflected about 22% and 18%, respectively, of the annual incident solar radiation back into atmosphere in the form of shortwave radiation. The annual net radiation was 2,648 and 2,544 MJ/(m2·a) for the alpine meadow site and the alpine wetland site, respectively, accounting for only about 40% of the annual incident solar radiation, significantly lower than the global mean. At 30-min scales, surface albedo exponentially decreases with the increase of the solar elevation angle; and it linearly decreases with the increase of soil-water content for our two sites. But those relationships are significantly influenced by cloudiness and are site-specific.

Key words: Tibetan Plateau, radiation balance, surface albedo, solar elevation angle, soil water content

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