A 2020 permafrost distribution map of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Chen, Yuhong; Nan, Zhuotong; Tian, Wenbiao; Zhao, Yi; Zhao, Shuping; Yang, Dongkai; Jing, Guifei; Niu, Fujun

doi:10.5194/tc-20-5697-2026

Articles | Volume 20, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5697-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5697-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 10

Research article

|

06 Oct 2026

Research article |

| 06 Oct 2026

A 2020 permafrost distribution map of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Yuhong Chen, Zhuotong Nan, Wenbiao Tian, Yi Zhao, Shuping Zhao, Dongkai Yang, Guifei Jing, and Fujun Niu

Data sets

A 2020 permafrost distribution map over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Yuhong Chen et al. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30997375

A 2020 permafrost distribution map of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Chen Yuhong and Zhuotong Nan https://doi.org/10.12072/ncdc.permalab.db7813.2026

Short summary

This study presents a 1-km permafrost map of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for 2020, generated via a frost number model and space-for-time substitution. Permafrost covers 1.038×10⁶ km² (39.35 %), a 1.82 % decline since 2010, while seasonally frozen ground covers 1.466×10⁶ km² (55.57 %). Validated against boreholes, the map achieves 0.84 accuracy (Kappa= 0.58). This map offers a critical, up-to-date baseline for cryospheric research.