Mapping the vegetation distribution of the permafrost zone on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

In this paper, an updated vegetation map of the permafrost zone in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) was delineated. The vegetation map model was extracted from vegetation sampling with remote sensing (RS) datasets by decision tree method. The spatial resolution of the map is 1 km×1 km, and in it the alpine swamp meadow is firstly distinguished in the high-altitude areas. The results showed that the total vegetated area in the permafrost zone of the QTP is 1,201,751 km2. In the vegetated region, 50,260 km2 is the areas of alpine swamp meadow, 583,909 km2 for alpine meadow, 332,754 km2 for alpine steppe, and 234,828 km2 for alpine desert. This updated vegetation map in permafrost zone of QTP could provide more details about the distribution of alpine vegetation types for studying the vegetation mechanisms in the land surface processes of high-altitude areas.