Zhang Bo, Xu Xiaoxue, Liao Tiantian, Pang Wanzhi, Wang Tianzhen, Guo Meng
Accepted: 2026-04-22
Permafrost covers approximately 20%-25% of the global land surface, playing a critical role in hydrological regulation and geomorphic stability in high-latitude regions, while storing nearly half of the world's soil organic carbon. Climate warming and fire disturbances are the primary drivers of permafrost degradation in the Northern Hemisphere, leading to the re-lease of organic carbon sequestered in frozen soils into the atmosphere, creating a positive feed-back loop that exacerbates global warming. Moreover, temperature increases in high-latitude re-gions significantly outpace those in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, further intensify-ing permafrost degradation. Formation and expansion of thermokarst lakes and ponds(TLP)are among the most direct indicators of permafrost degradation. The evolutionary lifecycle of TLP typically encompasses four main stages:formation, expansion, stabilization, and decline. Their evolution is influenced by multiple factors, including permafrost type, vegetation characterist-ics, and atmospheric temperature changes, resulting in distinct evolutionary patterns across dif-ferent regions. With the accelerating trend of climate warming in high-latitude areas, coupled with frequent wildfires in boreal forests and potential ecosystem shifts due to permafrost de-gradation, there is an urgent need to clarify the short-term and long-term impacts of global cli-mate warming and fire disturbances on the formation and evolution of TLP. The northern part of the Da Hinggan Mountains, located at the southern margin of the Eurasian permafrost zone, is China's only mid-to-high latitude permafrost region. In recent decades, permafrost degrada-tion in this area has significantly intensified due to climate warming, wildfires, and human activities. This study focuses on the "May 6" catastrophic forest fire in the northern part of Hei-longjiang Province's Da Hinggan Mountains, one of the largest wildfires in modern Chinese history. Using remote sensing imagery, TLP were extracted from both the burned area and an adjacent unburned area of equal size, and their spatiotemporal changes were analyzed. The evolutionary processes of TLP in the Da Hinggan Mountains were also examined. The results indicate that:1)Fire disturbances accelerate the formation and expansion of TLP, with effects encompassing both short-term pulse impacts and long-term cumulative impacts. 2)Under the combined influence of climate warming and wildfires, the area of TLP in the permafrost region of the Da Hinggan Mountains has significantly increased over the past 36 years. However, due to the short-term pulse effect, small and medium-sized TLP in the burned area expanded rap-idly within four years post-fire, while the annual change rate in the unburned area remained rel-atively stable. Additionally, due to the long-term cumulative effects of fire disturbances, the ex-pansion of TLP in the burned area significantly exceeds that in the unburned area. The primary characteristic of TLP changes in both areas is the expansion of small TLP, with medium-sized TLP exhibiting the strongest response to fire disturbances. 3)Unlike evolutionary mechanisms of TLP in continuous permafrost zones of the Arctic hinterland, the decline of TLP in the Da Hinggan Mountains is primarily driven by drainage and sediment accumulation. Consequently, lifecycle of TLP in this region, from formation to disappearance, is relatively short, exhibiting rapid evolutionary dynamics. This study elucidates characteristics of TLP changes and influ-ence of wildfire disturbances on TLP at the southern margin of permafrost regions, providing a novel perspective for understanding permafrost degradation in China.