Department of Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W. Montréal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada.
Sci Rep. 2022 Feb 9;12(1):2196. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-06320-6.
Cycles of freeze-thaw (FT) are among the key landscape processes in cold regions. Under current global warming, understanding the alterations in FT characteristics is of a great importance for advising land management strategies in northern latitudes. Using a generic statistical approach, we address the impacts of compound changes in air temperature and snow depth on FT responses across Québec, a Canadian province ~ 2.5 times larger than France. Our findings show significant and complex responses of landscape FT to compound changes in temperature and snow depth. We note a vivid spatial divide between northern and southern regions and point to the asymmetric and nonlinear nature of the FT response. In general, the response of FT characteristics is amplified under compound warming compared to cooling conditions. In addition, FT responses include nonlinearity, meaning that compounding changes in temperature and snow depth have more severe impacts compared to the cumulative response of each individually. These asymmetric and nonlinear responses have important implications for the future environment and socio-economic management in a thawing Québec and highlight the complexity of landscape responses to climatic changes in cold regions.
冻融循环（FT）是寒冷地区的关键景观过程之一。在当前全球变暖的情况下，了解 FT 特征的变化对于为北纬地区的土地管理策略提供建议非常重要。我们使用通用的统计方法，研究了空气温度和雪深的复合变化对加拿大魁北克省（比法国大 2.5 倍）FT 响应的影响。我们的研究结果表明，景观 FT 对温度和雪深的复合变化表现出显著而复杂的响应。我们注意到北部和南部地区之间存在明显的空间差异，并指出 FT 响应的不对称和非线性性质。一般来说，与冷却条件相比，FT 特征在复合变暖条件下的响应更强烈。此外，FT 响应包括非线性，这意味着温度和雪深的复合变化比每个因素单独作用的累积响应具有更严重的影响。这些不对称和非线性的响应对未来的环境和社会经济管理在解冻的魁北克省具有重要意义，并强调了寒冷地区景观对气候变化的响应的复杂性。
