Geocryological Regionalization and Permafrost Classification Map of China

China's permafrost and frozen ground are mapped in this dataset, which includes digital versions of a foundational geocryological map. It delineates three major geographic areas subdivided into regions based on climatic conditions affecting permafrost formation and variability. The data also provide eight land classifications based on permafrost coverage and seasonal frozen ground depth, alongside station measurements for temperature and thaw depth.

Use Cases

• Regional permafrost modeling based on the eight land classification categories.
• Analysis of active layer thaw depth variability using station data.
• Spatial assessment of seasonal frozen ground depth across China's regions.
• Validation of gridded permafrost products using the 25 km EASE-Grid binary arrays.

Strengths

• Provides a foundational, expert-derived regionalization of China's permafrost into three major areas and subregions.
• Includes multiple complementary data formats: ESRI Shapefiles for vector analysis and binary arrays for gridded analysis.
• Contains station-level data on key cryospheric variables like air temperature and active layer thaw depth.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• The license is ambiguously specified as 'other-license-specified' without clear terms.
• The listed last update date (2026-04-10) is in the future, indicating potential metadata corruption or error.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Derived from the work published in 'Geocryology in China' by Y. Zhou, D. Guo, G. Qiu, G. Cheng, and S. Li.

Collection Method

Digital conversion of published maps into ESRI Shapefiles and 25 km EASE-Grid binary arrays.

Freshness

2026-04-10 01:24:55.386905

Geography

China