
Genxu WangChinese Academy of Sciences | CAS
Genxu Wang
Ph. D.
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368
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Introduction
Publications
Publications (368)
Using remote sensing to measure suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in mountainous rivers can compensate for the scarcity of in situ sediment observations, providing valuable direct supplementation to observational records. However, for inland rivers, remote sensing SSC assessments face challenges such as data quality, long-term water body chang...
Soil hydrological response is crucial for controlling water flow and biogeochemical processes on hillslopes. Understanding soil water dynamics in response to rainfall is essential for accurate hydrological modeling but remains challenging in humid mountainous regions characterized by high antecedent moisture and substantial heterogeneity. We sought...
As the climate warms and permafrost thaws, large quantities of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) enter streams via surface or subsurface flows and undergo biodegradation and photodegradation. Deciphering the transformation mechanisms of riverine DOC are crucial to understand the riverine carbon cycle and carbon-climate feedback. Yet the degradation ch...
The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) has experienced significant warming, wetting, and greening since the 1980s,altering the thermal regime of the frozen ground and associated geomorphological and ecological processes. Previous studies focused mainly on the long-term warming effects on permafrost, but the synergistic effects of seasonal variations in...
Clarifying the controlling factors of annual variations in evapotranspiration (ET) and its components (transpiration (T) and evaporation (E)) over alpine grasslands of high‐cold regions is vital to understanding the hydrological processes of the terrestrial ecosystem. Therefore, this study investigated the variability of ET and its components over...
Climate-sensitive northern cryosphere inland waters emit greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere, yet their total emissions remain poorly constrained. We present a data-driven synthesis of GHG emissions from northern cryosphere inland waters considering water body types, cryosphere zones, and seasonality. We find that annual GHG emissions are d...
Accurately quantifying the impact of permafrost degradation and soil freeze-thaw cycles on hydrological processes while minimizing the reliance on observational data are challenging issues in hydrological modeling in cold regions. In this study, we developed a modular distributed hydro-thermal coupled hydrological model for cold regions (DHTC) that...
The accuracy of the simulation of carbon and water processes largely relies on the selection of atmospheric forcing datasets when driving land surface models (LSM). Particularly in high-altitude regions, choosing appropriate atmospheric forcing datasets can effectively reduce uncertainties in the LSM simulations. Therefore, this study conducted fou...
Climate change is expected to alter the hydrologic cycle through precipitation and evapotranspiration. The hydrologic intensity is more complex under climate change in high mountainous regions. The spatial and temporal patterns of hydrological intensity were analyzed. The results showed that the degree of annual variations of hydrological intensity...
The research on the trends of mountainous aridity and the issue of elevation‐dependent aridity (EDA) has long been hindered by limitations in data validity. In this study, we present global monthly merged data sets of Vapor Pressure Deficit and Aridity Index (AI) from 1960 to 2020, aiming to detect and attribute elevation‐dependent patterns of atmo...
Climate change has regulated cryosphere‐fed rivers and altered interannual and seasonal sediment dynamics, with significant implications for terrestrial material cycles and downstream aquatic ecosystems. However, there has been a notable scarcity of research focusing on the patterns of water–sediment transport within these permafrost zones. Integra...
Comprehensive seasonal observation is essential for accurately quantifying methane (CH4) emissions from ponds and lakes in permafrost regions. Although CH4 emissions during ice thaw are important and highly variable in high‐latitude freshwater ponds and lakes (north of ∼50°N), their contribution is seldom included in estimates of aquatic‐atmospheri...
Supra‐ and sub‐permafrost groundwater are the two main components of groundwater in permafrost regions. However, due to the lack of groundwater observational data, the spatial‐temporal differentiation of these groundwater components in permafrost basins remains unclear. Based on flow data from 17 hydrological stations in five permafrost rivers with...
Soil water is crucial for maintaining forest health by providing plants with a dependable water source. However, the understanding of the impact of soil moisture on plant water uptake, particularly in conditions of excess soil water, is limited. In this study, we investigated root water uptake strategies of dominant species along an elevational gra...
Accurate estimation of precipitation in mountainous regions remains a challenge. Quantile Mapping (QM) is a method used extensively to correct gridded precipitation from numerical models or satellite remote sensing. The method can match the intensity histogram of a given gridded precipitation to that of the observation. However, the widely existing...
Stomata play a critical role in surface–atmosphere exchange by controlling the flux of water and CO2 between the leaf and the atmosphere. However, the driving factors for the vital parameter, the marginal water cost of the carbon gain (λ), are poorly understood in the subalpine regions. Therefore, we studied λ in subalpine plants at all across alti...
Recent climate change has caused an increase in warming-driven erosion and sediment transport processes on the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Yet a lack of measurements hinders our understanding of basin-scale sediment dynamics and associated spatiotemporal changes. Here, using satellite-based estimates of suspended sediment, we reconstruct the quantitative...
Energy partitioning and evapotranspiration (ET) of alpine meadows in permafrost areas are crucial for water cycle on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. However, seasonal (freeze–thaw cycle) variations in energy partitioning and ET and their driving factors must be clarified. Therefore, 4-year energy fluxes [i.e. latent heat (LE) and sensible heat (H)] were...
A R T I C L E I N F O Keywords: Rainfall threshold Forest cover Extreme flood Subsurface storm flow Top-SSF model Mountainous catchment A B S T R A C T Floods frequently occur in mountainous regions and threaten lives and property worldwide. Forest cover usually plays an important role in regulating and preventing floods. However, the rainfall thre...
Plain Language Summary
The outflow of water from catchments plays a critical role in supporting downstream ecosystems and human society. This catchment outflow includes surface and subsurface discharge. However, a portion of the subsurface discharge may not directly flow into river networks and thus remains unaccounted for in streamflow records at...
The structural and functional traits of coniferous trees can reflect their growth states and adaptive strategies to a harsh environment. However, it is still unclear if and how hydraulic traits of subalpine conifers change with altitude.
Therefore, the changes in stem hydraulic characteristics of Abies fabri along an elevational gradient (2700–3700...
Climate change is resulting in accelerated retreat of glaciers worldwide and much nitrogen-poor debris is left after glacier retreats. Asymbiotic dinitrogen (N2) fixation (ANF) can be considered a 'hidden' source of nitrogen (N) for non-nodulating plants in N limited environments; however, seasonal variation and its relative importance in ecosystem...
Water use efficiency (WUE) is a crucial parameter for describing the relationship between carbon and water cycles in plants and ecosystems. Previous studies suggest that an additional intercept is necessary for the empirical WUE model. However, the impact of soil moisture on model performance remains uncertain. In this study, 71 sites of FLUXNET201...
Variations in the suspended sediment on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau have important implications for aquatic ecosystems. Although changes in the cryosphere induced by climate change have been shown to increase sediment yields, their impacts on water and sediment dynamics in headwater regions remain poorly investigated. Here, we examined the responses...
Various precipitation-related studies have been conducted on the Yangtze River. However, the topography and atmospheric circulation regime of the Source Region of the Yangtze River (SRYZ) differ from other basin parts. Along with natural uniqueness, precipitation constitutes over 60% of the direct discharge in the SRYZ, which depicts the decisive r...
Rivers and streams are pivotal modulators in regional and global carbon cycles, but riverine CO2 flux is still uncertain for permafrost watersheds. Here we present the seasonal CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) and CO2 emission flux (FCO2) of 8 rivers and streams in the Yangtze River source region (YRSR), which have high permafrost coverage and seasonall...
Baseflow is an important component of streamflow in alpine permafrost basins and plays a significant role in maintaining ecosystem security and rational planning of water resources. Meanwhile, a holistic analysis of the runoff process and determination of low-flow components helps to better understand hydrological processes in permafrost regions. I...
Forest floor vegetative communities are shifting in composition under the pressures created by N deposition, invasive species, climate change, and intensive land management; however, our understanding of how different communities affect soil nitrogen (N) cycling remains limited. In this study, we compared soil N availability and N mineralization (N...
Glacier retreat raises global concerns but brings about the moment to study soil and ecosystem development. In nutrient-limited glacier forelands, the adaptability of pioneering plant and microbial species is facilitated by their interactions, including rhizosphere effects, but the details of this adaptability are not yet understood. In the rhizosp...
Diverse meteorological and vegetation conditions at different elevations and years lead to varied contributions of evapotranspiration (ET) to water yield in montane areas. However, how physical and biological factors affect interannual and elevational ET fluctuations in energy‐limited montane ecosystems remains unclear. Therefore, we quantified the...
Many debris flows have occurred in small basins with a small glacier cover or snow cover in periglacial areas, suddenly caused high mortality and great damage. The hydrometeorological conditions that caused such debris flows are complex, making forecasting and early warning difficult. Previous studies for these small-glacial-covered basins have pri...
Subsurface stormflow is a dominant runoff mechanism in steep humid mountainous areas. An insite measurement of subsurface stormflow suggests that the bedrock surface plays an important role in the runoff generation and routing process, which was rarely adopted in hydrological modelling studies. To improve the runoff simulation performance, the bedr...
The Yangtze River Source Region (YaRSR) is located in the third polar region, the most threatened zone by global warming after the Arctic. Permafrost covers eighty percent of the total area of YaRSR, while the rest is seasonally frozen ground. Due to a significant rise in air temperature, degradation of the permafrost could occur. Permafrost covera...
The Hindukush‐Karakoram‐Himalayas (HKH) mountainous range supplies water to 10 river basins serving eight countries. The present study focuses on the river basins located within the HKH region in Pakistan. The modified Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT+) was used to split the research region into 13 sub‐basins. The Mann–Kendall, Sen's slope, inn...
Sustainable management of grasslands has always been an urgent issue for policy-makers. The Three Rivers Source Region (TRSR) contains widely distributed natural grasslands and is sensitive to climate warming. To enable the sustainable development of the human-nature system in the TRSR, we propose a novel indicator based on the allocation of aboveg...
Extreme precipitation events can lead to severe mountain hazards, and they have therefore received widespread attention. The study of extreme precipitation can be hindered by the insufficient number and uneven distribution of rain gauge stations, especially in mountainous areas with complex terrain. In this study, the daily precipitation data of th...
River flow characteristics in permafrost regions on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) have changed rapidly with the intensification of global warming. However, the specific change characteristics and their responses to changes in influencing factors remain unclear. Based on the multi-year flow data of several typical basins in the QTP permafrost regi...
The Tibetan Plateau is the most extensive high-elevation grassland on Earth, with the largest expanse of high-elevation permafrost. It is experiencing climate warming that is projected to continue at rates above the global mean, potentially jeopardizing ecosystem functioning. We conducted a broad-scale resampling project in the permafrost region of...
Background and Aims
Nitrogen (N2) fixation through endophytic diazotrophs within the non-nodulated plants has been considered a novel source of N inputs in terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about the composition and diversity of endophytic diazotrophs within the non-nodulated plants, especially when compared with the diazotrophs in n...
Forest trees use various water sources to adapt to environmental conditions in mountainous regions. However, water resources variances along elevational gradients are not clearly understood. This limits the assessment of the ecosystem responses to climate change. In this study, stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopes were used to investigate the spatio...
Current studies on water conservation capacity of litter in the mountainous area of Southwest China (MASC) mainly focus on local scale. Such results are difficult to evaluate the storage and water-holding capacity of litter in the whole MASC. In this study, the results of site-scale research in the MASC from 2004 to 2021 were collated (a total of 1...
The ability of non-nodulating pioneer plants on newly exposed glacial till to obtain atmospheric N2 was investigated using both acetylene reduction assay (ARA) and ¹⁵N2 gas incorporation methods. Plant tissues were also examined for the presence of endophytic diazotrophic bacteria using high-throughput nifH amplification sequencing. Both ARA and ¹⁵...
Tree species richness has been recognized as an underlying driving factor for regulating soil phosphorus (P) status in many site-specific studies. However, it remains poorly understood whether this is true at broad scales where soil P strongly rely on climate, soil type and vegetation type. Here, based on the data of 946 mature natural forest sites...
Preferential flow (PF) through soil and regolith results in a rapid vertical and lateral water movement within the profile. This study focused on quantifying PF in contrasting forested hillslopes of the Hailuo Valley, located on China's east Tibetan Plateau. Quantifying PF in this region is challenging since the underlying matrix is complex, with s...
It is of great significance for the reasonable development and utilization of coastal aquifers and alleviation of water stress to study the migration law of seawater intrusion and the storage and recovery of underground aquifers in coastal areas. Under the premise of a certain amount of single well recharge, the physical model of the indoor sand bo...
Due to the complex topography and localized climate, active layer thickening and permafrost warming varied distinctly in different regions on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP). Based on the borehole-temperature data at 93 sites from 2012 to 2018, we analyzed the temporal and spatial characteristics of active layer thickness, permafrost temperature, a...
In permafrost regions, temperature and precipitation play decisive roles in hydrological processes. Soil freeze-thaw cycles in the active layer cause the runoff generation process to show multiple mechanisms and seasonal alternating patterns. In this study, based on the precipitation-runoff modeling system implemented in the Java modeling framework...
Herein, the slope- scale dynamic changes in water cycle processes such as infiltration, evapotranspiration, thermal- moisture conditions in the active layer, and suprapermafrost groundwater in response to changes in the underlying surface conditions are analyzed based on the complete hydrometeorological observation network in the small
Fenghuoshan...
Differences in rainfall partition into throughfall among different primeval forests distributed along an altitude gradient are inadequately investigated and understood. Through continuous and automatic monitoring of natural rainfall and throughfall along an elevation gradient on Mountain Gongga, we examined the response of throughfall to various ra...
The present study explored the changes in monthly streamflow in the Hindukush–Karakoram–Himalaya (HKH) region within Pakistan using the recently developed trend analysis method known as innovative polygon trend analysis (IPTA). The monthly streamflow data of 34 gauging stations installed in the HKH region was analyzed, and the Pettitt test was appl...
The quantitative attribution of changes in streamflow to climate change (CC) and land
cover change (LCC) for the Yangtze River Source Region (YRSR), China, was assessed. We used a combination of the SWAT model along with the statistical technique one factor at a time (OFAT) and innovative trend analysis (ITA) to achieve the study objectives. The cl...
Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is a key parameter in hydrometeorological studies, but dependent climatic drivers can induce uncertainties when attributing changes of ETo to climate change, and many studies have neglected this i