Impact of Grazing Exclusion on the Surface Heat Balance in North Tibet

The grazing exclusion program used by the Tibetan government to protect the ecological environment has changed the vegetation and impacted the surface heat balance in North Tibet. However, little information is available to describe the in?uences of the current grazing exclusion program on local surface heat balance. This study uses the records of fenced grassland patch locations to identify the impact of grazing exclusion on surface heat balance in North Tibet. The records of fenced grassland patch locations, including the longitude, latitude, and elevation of the vertices of each fenced patch (polygon shapes), were provided by the agriculture and animal husbandry bureaus of the counties where the patches were located. ArcGIS 10.2 was used to create polygon shapes based on patch location records. Based on satellite data and the surface heat balance system determined by the model, values for changes in land surface temperature (LST), albedo and evapotranspiration (ET) induced by grazing exclusion were obtained. All of these can influence surface heat balance and alter the fluctuation of LST in the northern Tibetan Plateau. The LST trends for day and night showed an asymmetric diurnal variation, with a larger magnitude of warming in the day than cooling at night. The maximum decrease in absorbed shortwave of LST (-0.5 - -0.4 ℃ per decade) occurred in the central region, while the minimum decrease (-0.2 - -0.1 ℃ per decade) occurred in the eastern region. The decreased latent heat lead to the LST increased maximum (>1 ℃ per decade) occurred in the central region, The eastern region increased at a rate of 0.2-0.5 ℃ per decade, while the minimum increase (0-0.1 ℃ per decade) occurred in the northwestern region.