Characteristics of near-surface soil freeze–thaw status using high resolution CLM5.0 simulations on the Tibetan Plateau

Soil freeze–thaw alternation is a natural characteristic of the Tibetan Plateau (TP), and plays an important role in surface energy balance and eco-hydrological processes. The soil freeze–thaw process on the TP has changed significantly owing to global warming, affecting the alpine ecosystem structure and function. This study used high-resolution atmospheric forcing datasets to drive the Community Land Model version 5.0 (CLM5.0) to simulate the near-surface soil freeze–thaw status between 1979 and 2020. The simulated results were compared with in situ observations, and then the spatiotemporal distribution of the freeze start-date (FSD), freeze end-date (FED), freeze duration (FD), and thaw duration (TD) at a depth of 0.1 m were analyzed. The Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficients (NSEs) of FSD, FED, FD, and TD between simulations and in situ observations were 0.77, 0.90, 0.98 and 0.92, and the correlation coefficients of FSD, FED, FD, TD were 0.97, 0.99, 0.99 and 0.98, respectively. The spatial distribution of FSD and TD was characterized by gradually increasing from northwest to southeast while FED and FD exhibited the opposite characteristics. FSD, FED, FD, and TD changed at an area-mean rate of 1.1, −1.4, −2.5, and 2.5 days decade⁻¹, respectively. This study provides an important reference for analyzing and predicting the changes in near surface soil freeze–thaw status on the TP under the warming climate.