In a warming climate, land-to-water carbon mobilization is increasing in glacier and permafrost area. To identify the connection between exported river carbon content and the permafrost or glacier condition in the high-altitude mountain area, we studied the dissolved organic carbon and dissolved inorganic carbon concentration in three streams of Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP), which were located in the continuous permafrost, seasonal permafrost and glacial basin, respectively. It was found that the DIC and DOC concentrations were lower in the glacial rivers compared with the permafrost derived rivers; but more DOC would be exported from glacier due to the large amount of melted glacier water in the high mountainous area. DIC/DOC ratio in rivers reflected the watershed landscape types. In the permafrost area, the river recharged by seasonal permafrost had higher DIC concentration than the river in the continuous permafrost region, suggesting that increased DIC concentration could be a precursor of permafrost degradation. Research is meaningful to estimate the DOC and DIC export from high mountain area.

在气候变暖的情况下，冰川和永久冻土地区从陆地到水的碳动员正在增加。为了明确高海拔山区河流输出碳含量与多年冻土或冰川状况之间的联系，我们研究了青藏高原（QTP）的3条河流的溶解有机碳和溶解无机碳浓度，这3条河流位于分别为连续多年冻土、季节性多年冻土和冰川盆地。结果发现，冰川河流中的 DIC 和 DOC 浓度低于永久冻土河流；但由于高山区冰川水融化量大，冰川会输出更多的DOC。河流中DIC/DOC比值反映了流域景观类型。在多年冻土区，季节性多年冻土补给的河流比连续多年冻土区的河流具有更高的DIC浓度，这表明DIC浓度的增加可能是多年冻土退化的前兆。研究对估算高山区DOC和DIC出口量具有重要意义。