Spatial and Temporal Distribution and Variations in the Near-surface Soil Freezing Days across China, 1956-2006

Using surface soil daily minimum temperature from 845 meteorological stations across China, the long-term (1971-2000) mean and spatial distribution of the near-surface soil freezing days were estimated with annual values of the number of near surface soil freezing days. The time series for the number of freezing days were constructed and compared with air temperatures in the same period.Resultsshowed that long term mean value in the number of the near surface soil freezing days increased with the increasing latitudes and altitudes over China. Near-surface soils were frozen for more than 200 days in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, northern Xinjiang and northeast of China. The boundaries of permafrost zones coincide with the contour of (220±10) days of near-surface soil freezing. Using the mean number of 15 days of near-surface soil freezing as criterion, we found that the southern boundary of seasonally frozen ground is around the 25°N line, and the regions south of 22°N are essentially unfrozen regions. The time series of the number of freezing days showed a significant linear trend with change with a slope of -0.22days/year over a period from 1956 through 2006. After the 1990s, the linear slope was up to -1.02 days / year, indicating that the rate of decrease in the number of near-surface soil freezing days has accelerated. Changes in the number of near surface soil freezing were in a negative correlation with air temperature, i.e., the number of near-surface soil freezing days decreases with increase in air temperature.Backgroundcolor represents the contour values of the departure of near-surface soil freezing days from the 1971-2000 mean; Black dashed line is the boundary of permafrost regions, red dashed line is the boundary between frozen and unfrozen ground regions in China