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Advances in Climate Change Research 10 (2019) 115e123
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A preliminary study on the theory and method of comprehensive

regionalization of cryospheric services
LIN Hao-Xi a,b,c, HUANG Jin-Chuan a,b,c,*, FANG Chuang-Lin a,b,c, QI Xiao-Xiao a,b,
CHEN Yun-Qian d
a
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
b
Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
c
College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
d
Beijing National Day School, Beijing, 100039, China

Received 31 October 2018; revised 11 April 2019; accepted 4 June 2019

Available online 8 June 2019

Abstract

As one of the five most important spheres affecting climate systems globally, the cryosphere not only exerts crucial impacts on natural
environment, but also plays a key role in guaranteeing the goods and services provision of the oasis in the cold and arid regions. However, there
is a lack of synthesized knowledge about the contributions and profitability on socio-economic aspects of the cryospheric services (CSs). To cope
with this key and urgent sustainable development issues, this study constructs a comprehensive regionalization research system that integrates
the natural and socio-economic aspects for cryospheric characteristics with emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches. Guided by the supply-
demand equilibrium model and the service maximization model, the research system consists of establishing a classification system for CSs,
identifying the spatial distribution pattern of CSs, and constructing the comprehensive regionalization of CSs, which finally divides the research
area into relatively independent, complete, and organically linked CS units of multiple spatial levels. By setting up a bridge between the CSs
with socio-economic needs, it has profound and practical significance and implications for implementing the sustainable utilization strategies
and macroeconomic policymaking for global environmental protection.

Keywords: Principle; Method; Service; Comprehensive regionalization; Cryosphere

1. Introduction positive and negative feedbacks such as water, energy, and

As an integral part of the climate system, the cryosphere
refers to the negative temperature layer of the Earth's surface,
which stores 75% of the Earth's freshwater in the form of a
solid water reservoir. The major constituent elements are
glaciers, frozen ground, snow cover, frozen precipitation, sea
ice, river ice, and lake ice (IPCC, 2013). Through complex
* Corresponding author. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Re-
sources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
E-mail address: huangjc@igsnrr.ac.cn (HUANG J.-C.).
Peer review under responsibility of National Climate Center (China
Meteorological Administration).
material exchange, it interacts strongly with the atmosphere,
biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere (Barry and Gan, 2011;
Marshall, 2011). The cryosphere is the material and cultural
basis for the sustainable development of the environment,
society, and economy in high latitude and altitude regions,
which collectively lay a solid foundation for multiple services
or benefits that the cryosphere can provide to humans, namely
cryospheric services (CSs), such as the freshwater resources
provision, ecological regulation and so forth (Qin et al., 2006;
Qin and Ding, 2010).
However, previously, cryospheric science mainly focused
on natural properties and negative socio-economic impacts,
including processes and mechanisms of cryospheric changes,

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116 LIN H.-X. et al. / Advances in Climate Change Research 10 (2019) 115e123
disasters as well as vulnerability (Zhang and Wu, 2012; Yang
et al., 2015; Qin et al., 2018). A case in point is that a number
of studies have documented the extent of climate change in
various parts of the world and the impact of this change on
glaciers (Yao et al., 2012), river flows (Immerzeel et al., 2012),
and to some extent snow and permafrost (Gao et al., 2016).
While our knowledge about the physical basis of cryospheric
change has expanded considerably in recent years, there has
been lack of systematic research and discussion in the fields
such as value assessment, categorization, regionalization of
CSs and their direct impacts on human well-being, which has
led to a gap in theory research and practice application be-
tween the cryospheric sciences and socio-economic develop-
ment, with limited guidance for bridging this gap.
Given this knowledge gap, the CSs have not received suf-
ficient attention due both to relatively remote location and to
lack of public awareness, though some work has already been
carried out on the impacts of cryospheric changes on human
societies, where basins, like the Indus, were identified to be
more critically dependent on ice, snow, and glaciers than other
basins (Kaser et al., 2010). However, much of this body of
work has focused on the downstream impacts in the plains
(Moors and Stoffel, 2013; Nepal et al., 2014), leaving us with
less understanding about the contributions of the cryosphere to
high mountain communities such as the Hindu Kush Himalaya
(Mukherji et al., 2019). In recent years, there has been a
rekindling of interest in linking cryosphere research with so-
cietal needs (Qin et al., 2018). One of the outcomes of this has
been the emergence of the applied concept of a cryosphere
service function framework (Xiao et al., 2015), largely
adapted from the concept of ecosystem services.
The convergence of cryospheric-socio-economics is not
only an inevitable trend, but also an indispensable require-
ment for enhancing the applicable value and satisfying major
national strategic needs (Qin et al., 2006; IPCC, 2013). From
a scientific point, bridging the supply side of CSs and the
demand side of socio-economic needs would make important
theoretical contributions to theory of man-land territorial
system and sustainable development (Qin et al., 2018). From
a practical point, breakthroughs in exploring the territorial
differentiation rules of CSs is beneficial to revealing the
mechanism behind the cryospheric process and its services
dealing with major issues such as sea level rise and marine
resource exploitation caused by climate changes (Fountain
et al., 2012; Hodson et al., 2015), as well as providing sci-
entific support for the “Belt and Road” initiative and Winter
Olympics preparation.
Correspondingly, as the value of CSs is becoming more and
more prominent, it is necessary to have a full scientific un-
derstanding of their spatial differentiations, complex di-
versities, and various characteristics, to lay a scientific and
strategic foundation for identifying the regional similarities
and differences of CSs. To cope with this key and urgent
scientific issues, this study aims at constructing a compre-
hensive regionalization research system that integrates the
natural and socio-economic aspects for cryospheric charac-
teristics with emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches, which
belongs within the overall framework of the Earth's system
(Hinzman et al., 2005; Liu et al., 2007).
2. Theoretical analysis
2.1. Concept, definition, and scale
As shown in Fig. 1, cryospheric function (CF) focuses on
natural attributes, which form the premise, foundation, and
material guarantee for CSs. Based on human needs and pref-
erences, CSs are produced by the CFs, specifically, the needs
of human livelihood and overall well-being. To be specific,
CSs are defined as all benefits directly or indirectly obtained
from the cryosphere, including all products and services
contributing to human survival and life quality (Qin et al.,
2017). The definition of CSs can be extended to the forma-
tion process of various cryospheric benefits to the hydro-
sphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere. CSs bridge the
gap between the natural environment and socio-economic
development (Kang et al., 2010). Rooted in the hierarchical
organization and complexity of the Earth's surface, there exist
three dimensions in the comprehensive regionalization of CSs.
First, the spatial scale, which refers to the spatial extent of
changes in things or phenomena, including grid, administra-
tive division, watershed, region, nation, and globe. Second, the
time scale, which refers to the specific time period of changes
in things or phenomena and the time length of adaptation,
including the status quo, near-term, medium-term, etc. Third,
the links between CSs and human well-being, and who serves,
what services are involved, and how to serve stakeholders,
whether they be individuals, family, community, enterprise, or
government.
Comprehensive regionalization is a method of expressing
the regional distribution law of geographical phenomena and
their characteristics, which intuitively expresses the attri-
butes and interconnections of various components in the
geographical environment. Furthermore, comprehensive
regionalization contributes to an understanding of the
geographical laws of CSs occurrence, development, distri-
bution, structure, etc. Specifically, comprehensive regional-
ization is the basic approach to perceive the world
geographically both in terms of theory and practice.
Generally, a certain region is divided into a number of
spatially conjugated regions with intra-regional similarities
and significant inter-regional differences (Bailey, 1983; Wu
et al., 2016). Cross-complementary interdisciplinary
methods, multi-source and heterogeneous data support, and
the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods are
the main features of comprehensive regionalization (Shi
et al., 2014). The top-down sequential division method and
the bottom-up stepwise merging method are two basic types
of comprehensive regionalization. The former can objec-
tively grasp and reflect the general law of geographical
differentiation, which is suitable for determining the
boundaries of high and intermediate regionalized units. The
latter combines the regions with similarities based on the
lowest regionalized units. The combination of the above-
 LIN H.-X. et al. / Advances in Climate Change Research 10 (2019) 115e123
Fig. 1. The differences and similarities between cryospheric function and cryospheric service.
named methods has become the new standard in current
comprehensive regionalization.
2.2. Theoretical basis and principle
Principally, the rule of territorial differentiation is the basic
theoretical basis of all regionalization. The spatial distribution
of natural and human geographical elements is interrelated and
mutually influential; they act together on territorial differen-
tiation (Fang et al., 2017). Thus, comprehensive regionaliza-
tion is based primarily on intrinsic similarities and regional
differences determined by the rule of territorial differentiation
(Hartshorne, 1997). At the same time, the cryosphere is a
symbiotic system in which population, economy, society, re-
sources, ecology, and environment are interdependent. CSs
organically couple natural elements with human needs, and a
dynamic structure is formed in which man and land interact
with each other in the specific region of the cryosphere. How
to draw on advantages and avoid disadvantages on the basis of
the man-land territorial system theory in the cryosphere has
become a key issue for sustainable development. Moreover,
the theory of environmental and resource capacity provides the
theoretical foundation for evaluating the carrying capacity of
CSs. The set theory, information theory, and coding theory
directly provide guidance for formulating the scheme for
comprehensive regionalization of CSs. Multi-dimensional
research must be carried out using a comprehensive perspec-
tive of the natural-economic-social composite system theory.
The rational and practical principles are keys to the success
of comprehensive regionalization (Zheng et al., 2008). In
consideration of the natural characteristics of the cryosphere,
and the occurrence, development, and connection of CSs, the
principles of comprehensive regionalization of CSs are listed
as follows:
(1) The principle of occurrence. The formation of the
cryosphere is closely related to human survival. There-
fore, the synergy and trade-off relationship among CSs
is a product of historical development and will continue
to affect global climate change.
117
(2) The principle of the grading system. The regional dif-
ferences revealed by different regionalization grades
must be consistent or maintain a logical relationship
including sequential order and importance logic, thus
forming a hierarchy that reflects the territorial differen-
tiation of CSs.
(3) The principle of multi-scale integration. The watershed
zoning, administrative division, and grid are defined as
the main scale units. Also, point elements (e.g., city
distribution), line elements (e.g., river), and surface el-
ements (e.g., alpine grassland) are determined as the
cross-scale units. Through a combination of different
scale units, this study intends to achieve multi-scale
integration.
(4) The principle of relative consistency. For any regional-
ization unit of CSs, the similarities within the unit and
the inter-regional differences should be as large as
possible. Also, the fragmented regions should be
appropriately combined in accordance with the principle
of area ratio first, fully reflecting the regularity and
integrity of regional differentiation.
(5) The principle of integrity and dominance. It is note-
worthy that comprehensively considering the factors
affecting the territorial differentiation of CSs and seizing
the major factors are the main ways for strengthening
scientific soundness and effectiveness.
2.3. Theoretical model
2.3.1. The supply-demand equilibrium model
The formation and evolution of the cryosphere is driven by
the combination of natural elements and human activities. The
leading role of human activities in typical regions is becoming
increasingly clear, and this is profoundly affecting the key
elements of the natural regional system and its mechanisms of
interaction (Kahn, 2016). Comprehensive regionalization in
the current era should pay more attention to the factors, pat-
terns, and processes in the human-natural coupling effect on
multiple scales. As a result, this study integrates human and
118 LIN H.-X. et al. / Advances in Climate Change Research 10 (2019) 115e123
natural elements into the indicator system. Supply and demand
are important prerequisites for services. The supply of CSs
refers to the human products and services provided by the
cryosphere. The demand of CSs refers to the consumption and
use of cryospheric products and services by humans. The
termination of CSs is where service reductions generate ef-
fects. Supply and demand together constitute the dynamic
process of CSs flowing from the natural-ecological compound
system to the economic-social compound system. In light of
the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs
model (InVEST model) and the Artificial Intelligence for
Ecosystem Services (ARIES model), the InVEST model fol-
lows the primary logic of “Supply
Service
Value,” while the
ARIES model applies “Supply
Demand
Sink” as the con-
ceptual framework. For the InVEST model, supply is the
product or function that the cryosphere can potentially provide
and is transformed into services by the beneficiary's needs and
utilization. Moreover, social preferences are incorporated in
order to represent the value of those services with socio-
economic indicators. For ARIES model, the spatial flow of
services is conveyed by transfer media. During the flow pro-
cess, all effects leading to weakening of the transfer media is
collectively referred to as the “sink”, as shown in Fig. 2. A
“sink” can weaken the service while enhancing the protective
service (Nelson et al., 2009). Identifying the supply area and
assessing the supply potential of CSs are the basis of adopting
effective management and appropriate development to meet
the growing social and economic needs. Clarifying the spatial
distribution and structure on the demand side of CSs is
conducive to exploring the promotions of and constraints on
socio-economic development caused by CSs (Ostrom, 2009;
Yang et al., 2016).
2.3.2. The service maximization model
For a given geographical region, the comprehensive
development status of CSs is composed of economic devel-
opment, social security, ecological protection, etc. The spatial
equilibrium of CSs means that the per capita value of the
comprehensive development status of each region tends to be
balanced. Only in this way can CSs exist and play a role
sustainably. In detail, the utilization of CSs will not only
consider whether the various kinds of services have produced
their greatest benefits, but also consider whether the maximum
Fig. 2. The supply-demand relationship between natural and human systems.
benefits they generate are greater than benefits that other
combinations of CSs can produce. Correspondingly, the con-
straining conditions include carrying capacity and cost of
implementation (Costanza, 1997). All in all, human beings can
enjoy CSs to a large extent only if CSs will be in their
appropriate place and perform their corresponding duties,
which realizes orderly spatial development.
2.4. Attributes of the regionalization
In terms of hierarchical attributes, regionalization is the
organic coordinated unification of classification and division.
Zheng (1998) divided regionalization into type regionalization
and region regionalization according to use of the deductive
method. Huang (1958) believed that each unit of region
regionalization was adjacent geographically and maintained
spatial unrepeatability, while each unit of type regionalization
was allowed to be isolated from one another and maintain
spatial repeatability. The difference between type regionali-
zation and region regionalization lies in whether the spatial
conjugation is followed or not. Accordingly, similar to major-
function-oriented zoning and ecological function zoning, the
comprehensive regionalization of CSs belongs to type
regionalization; thus, each unit maintains spatial repeatability
and isolation.
In terms of content attributes, the comprehensive region-
alization of CSs is based on the spatial and temporal hetero-
geneity rules of cryospheric elements and is oriented toward
socio-economic development needs. This identifies the
spatial distribution of realistic differentiation and potential
differentiation of CSs, which is also restricted by resource and
environment carrying capacity, ecological red line, and so
forth. Different from the physical geographic regionalization
based on characteristics of the natural ecosystems and the
regionalization of human geography focused on regional dif-
ferences in human phenomena, the comprehensive regionali-
zation of CSs conforms to the laws of physical geography and
serves socio-economic development. This points to the spe-
cific functional regionalization of cryospheric resource pro-
tection, development, and utilization.
3. Methodology
3.1. General technical process
First, this study establishes a classification system for CSs
after exploring its theoretical foundation and defining its
conceptual connotation. Second, with the supply and demand
equilibrium model and the service maximization model as
theoretical guidance, the spatial distribution pattern of CSs is
determined by means of single and major service identifica-
tion. Furthermore, based on the rule of territorial differentia-
tion of the “man-land territorial system” in the cryosphere, as
well as the principles of comprehensiveness, dominance, and
integrity, the comprehensive regionalization of CSs is made in
accordance with the supply side of CSs and the demand side of
socio-economic needs. As a result, the comprehensive
 LIN H.-X. et al. / Advances in Climate Change Research 10 (2019) 115e123 119

regionalization of CSs divides the cryospheric region into ecological conditions, cryospheric resource elements, and
relatively independent and complete units with multiple spatial socio-economic attributes. From another perspective, this data
levels and organic links, as shown in Fig. 3. base is a data cube composed of time, space, and attributes.

3.2. Establishing a classification system for cryospheric 3.3. Identifying the single cryospheric service
services
After carefully evaluating the importance of various kinds
Guided by the “man-land territorial system” and focused on of CSs by means of the supply and demand equilibrium model,
cryospheric characteristics, this study establishes a classifica- the spatial distribution of a single CS importance (G) is
tion system for CSs from the perspective of land use function, identified as:
ecosystem service function, landscape ecological function, and
the unique socio-economic services of the cryosphere (Yang G ¼ f ðS; D; rÞ ð1Þ
et al., 2012; Costanza et al., 2014). The system consists of
where S represents the importance evaluation of the supply
three main categories, 16 sub-categories, and 40 minor-
side, D represents the importance evaluation of the demand
categories, as shown in Table 1 and Fig. 4.
side, and r is the amendment of the importance evaluation.
Basic ecological services refer to the services provided by The importance evaluation of the supply side is based on
the cryosphere that are beneficial for human survival. As
the characteristics and practical needs of each CS, which
primitive and natural services that are unique to the natural
corresponds to different combinations of the indicator system.
system, basic ecological services have been preserved after
The evaluation method is mainly supported by the weighted
thousands of years of impacts from human activities, which
layer superposition and is supplemented by the group of ser-
play a key role in the ecological security guarantee and quality
vices value quantization functions. By vertical and horizontal
assurance of socio-economic development.
comparison, the results of the importance evaluation of the
Primary production services refer to the transformation and
supply side are determined.
utilization of the natural system by human beings initially, The importance evaluation of the demand side is to assess
while such services still have strong dependence on natural
the degree of dependence of human activities on CSs and the
systems, which act as the material security of socio-economic
cryospheric vulnerability degree, aiming at reflecting the de-
development.
gree of influence of human development and utilization on the
Human development services refer to the fact that human
cryosphere. In other words, as the importance of the supply
beings obtain a basic survival guarantee via basic ecological
side is constrained by resource and environment carrying ca-
services and primary production services. Human beings
pacity, there inevitably exists a mismatch between supply and
pursue more diverse functions and greater satisfaction when
demand.
rid of various kinds of constraints. Hence, human development Based on Major Function-Oriented Zoning, land suitability
services are the most important source of human wealth
evaluation, ecological function protection areas, and so forth
creation.
as the upper constraint factors, the amendment of importance
According to the classification system for CSs, this study
evaluation is accomplished by the above-mentioned spatial
constructs an indicator system and data base for the compre-
suitability pattern of urban, agricultural, animal husbandry,
hensive regionalization of CSs from three aspects of natural

Fig. 3. The technical flowchart of comprehensive regionalization.

120 LIN H.-X. et al. / Advances in Climate Change Research 10 (2019) 115e123
Table 1
The classification system for cryospheric services.
Major-categories Sub-categories
Basic ecological services Climate regulation
Air regulation
Runoff replenishment
Biodiversity preservation
Water conservation
Soil formation
Ecological water provision
Raw material production
Primary production services Agricultural water provision
Animal husbandry water provision
Human development services Clean energy provision
Urban water provision
Industrial water provision
Ice and snow tourism
Social and cultural conservation
Engineering support
ecological, etc. As a consequence, the importance evaluation
of CSs not only depends on their natural resource endowment,
but also the realization of benefits. Meanwhile, such evalua-
tion should not violate the developmental and protection in-
terests of national policies and planning.
Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of cryospheric services.
Minor-categories
Temperature regulation, humidity regulation, purification regulation
Carbon and oxygen balance regulation
Water regulation, water provision, runoff regulation
Microbial ecological environment provision in cold region, plant
ecological environment provision in cold region, biological control,
shelter, germplasm conservation
Flood detention, water purification, water and soil conservation,
interference regulation
Soil formation, erosion control and sediment retention
Plant water provision, animal water provision, biogeographic balance
maintenance of water needed for the inorganic environment
Nutrient cycling, pollination, water provision, food provision, raw material
provision
Spring irrigation
Hydraulic electrogenerating, methane hydrates provision
Ecological tourism, ice and snow sports, ice and snow exploration and
entertainment activities, ice and snow scientific investigation
Aesthetic appreciation and recreation, scientific research and
environmental education, religious spirit and cultural structure
Maintaining building safety operations, ensuring the stability of linear
projects such as highway, railway and oil pipelines
For integration of the above-mentioned procedures, the
Distance to Frontier method was referenced and further
improved in that the integrated frontier distance was formed
by scores and rankings simultaneously. More narrowly, for
each service type, the integrated frontier distance of each grid
 LIN H.-X. et al. / Advances in Climate Change Research 10 (2019) 115e123
was calculated, which offers the basic foundation for identi-
fying the single CS. For practical significance, this calculated
the gap between the importance of a certain CS in a certain
area and the importance of the same CS in a larger
geographical area. Furthermore, the grids with the same ser-
vice and spatial proximity were automatically merged and the
sub-region boundaries identified using the grid-merging
model.
3.4. Identifying the major cryospheric services
In the same geographical unit, there generally exist multi-
ple services at the same time. In other words, the same
geographical unit might be suitable for multiple CSs simul-
taneously. However, for different CSs, their relative impor-
tance is variable to a certain degree, thus the further
identification of the major CS is required. Seen originally, the
major service refers to the function and role of a certain P
geographical area (Ri) in a larger geographical area ( R),
especially in terms of natural resources and ecological envi-
ronment systems, as well as living-ecological-production
related activities. Location entropy reflects the relative
specialization levels of factor utilization from a certain
department. Speaking of higher significance, location entropy
indicates the status and role of a certain area in a larger area.
The location entropy algorithm is developed based on the
location entropy model:
 Pm
bt bi
at ¼ Pmi¼1 ð2Þ
Bt = i¼1 Bi
where at is the relative importance value of each service in a
larger area, m is the total number of categories of CSs,Pbi is the
importance value of a service within a certain area, m i¼1 bi is
the sum of importance value of all services within this area, Bi
is the importance value of a service in a larger area. The higher
at is, the more important the service is. For instance, basic
ecological services with low importance value normally point
to cultivated land, desert, construction land, etc., which have
little significance for regional and national ecological security.
Primary production services with low importance value are
mostly urban, woodland, water, desert, and other areas where
agriculture and animal husbandry cannot be carried out.
3.5. The comprehensive regionalization of cryospheric
services
Based on the three-dimensional cube expansion method
and the importance index of CS, the comprehensive region-
alization of CSs can be accomplished. The first-grade regions
and second-grade regions have a logical relationship similar to
primary and secondary contradiction, which focus on the law
of territorial differentiation of CSs. In detail, the first-grade
regions start with the major CS and the main control role of
the glacier, snow cover, and frozen ground. The second-grade
regions start with the secondary factors that cause the differ-
ences in CSs, and take the spatial distribution differences of
121
the sub-category services of the cryosphere and the degree of
cryospheric vulnerability into consideration. It is worth noting
that the grid-scale is an auxiliary research scale.
The three-dimensional cube expansion method is mainly
used for the first-grade regionalization. The basic principle is
to establish a three-dimensional coordinate system, which can
select the type, amount, proportion, carrying capacity, and
strength as the evaluation dimensions to form a 3  3  3 cube
expansion map, as shown in Fig. 5. The system ensures that
the major CS is relatively consistent within the region and the
difference among regions is maximized.
The importance index of the CS method is mainly used for
second-grade regionalization. First-grade regionalization is
subdivided according to the importance degree of the CS.
Taking the water resources service as an example, based on
the first-grade regionalization, the water resources service is
further divided into priority development regions (industrial
and agricultural), key development regions (commercial
mineral water), restricted development zones (ecological
protection), etc. The boundaries will be revised in combi-
nation with administrative divisions and watershed bound-
aries, which guarantee that the boundaries of the second-
grade regions will not be overlapped with the first-grade
regions:
X
3
I¼ k i  Pi ð3Þ
i¼1
where I represents the importance index of CS, P1 represents
the water storage capacity of the glacier, snow cover, and
frozen ground, P2 represents the proportion of the melt-water
supplied by the glacier, snow cover, and frozen ground to the
total water in its core and affected region, P3 represents the
regional regulating ability of the cryosphere, and ki represents
the coefficient weight. It should be ensured that k1 þ k2 þ
k3 ¼ 1.
3.6. Exploration for dynamic and comprehensive
regionalization
As the concept of time is most easily overlooked in existing
regionalization studies, a majority of comprehensive region-
alization is only carried out on average conditions for a certain
period of time. Climate change and human activities have
exerted a significant impact on geographical system elements
and their interrelationships (Cao et al., 2013). Correspond-
ingly, limitations are becoming more and more remarkable in
characterizing the dynamic characteristics of the geographical
system based on the average time series data reflecting the
long-term state of the system (Wu et al., 2010). Combining
static volume and the dynamic volume, multi-scenario and
dynamic regionalization as well as regionalization of human-
natural element coupling will become the mainstream in the
future (Peng et al., 2018).
In order to realize the multi-scenario and dynamic region-
alization of CSs, a scenario analysis method can be used to set
up the current system and future development scenarios.
122 LIN H.-X. et al. / Advances in Climate Change Research 10 (2019) 115e123
Fig. 5. Conceptual chart of the three-dimensional cube expansion method.
Correspondingly, high-resolution, multi-scale, and long time
series data are indispensable. First, it is of great importance to
figure out how cryospheric elements change under different
climate change scenarios, such as depth of frozen ground,
snow cover, surface runoff, and ground temperature. For
climate models, the inter-sectoral impact model inter-
comparison project (ISI-MIP) can be used to simulate the
Global Climate Model under five Representative Concentra-
tion Pathways scenarios with spatial downscaling and bias
correction. Combined with the population, GDP, technical
productivity, and other socio-economic indicators from Shared
Socio-economic Pathways scenarios (Shi et al., 2014; Wu
et al., 2016; Liu et al., 2018), the responses and changes of
CSs can be predicted and discussed. After drawing up the
dynamically comprehensive regionalization of CSs in view of
corresponding constraints, criteria, and a unified method sys-
tem, the characteristics and status of different scenarios can be
revealed directly, providing basic support for economic
adjustment measures, industrial adjustment paths, and
ecological protection measures.
4. Conclusion and discussion
The evolution of socio-economic needs has generated new
regionalization schemes and served as intrinsic motivation for
methods and technological innovation. As global warming
continues, influences resulting from the dynamic changes of
CSs, both on the global and regional scales, are increasingly
widespread and far-reaching. With emphasis on interdisci-
plinary approaches and multi-source and heterogeneous data-
base, this study constructed a comprehensive regionalization
research system, suitable for cryospheric characteristics, that
integrates the natural supply and human demand factors.
Based on the rule of territorial differentiation, man-land ter-
ritorial system theory, set theory, information and coding
theory, the research system of comprehensive regionalization
of CSs proposed in this study comprises establishing a clas-
sification system for CSs, identifying the spatial distribution
pattern of CSs, and constructing the comprehensive regional-
ization of CSs, which finally divides the research area into
relatively independent, complete, and organically linked CS
units of multiple spatial levels. By setting up a bridge between
the cryospheric services with socio-economic needs, it has
profound and practical significance and implications for
implementing the sustainable utilization strategies of CSs and
macroeconomic policymaking such as Belt and Road initia-
tive, as well as promoting the development of human geog-
raphy and cryospheric science. Looking to the future, we
should deepen the research from the following perspectives, in
view of the status of current research and the obvious prob-
lems that need to be addressed:
(1) Improve the research system and technical process.
Focusing on the synergy and trade-off relationship of
CSs at different scales, the first priority is to improve the
comprehensive regionalization of CSs on the multi-
grade, multi-scale, multi-scenario levels, and finally to
solve the problem of multi-scale integration.
(2) Establish the value assessment system of CSs. With the
goal of connecting CSs with the market value system,
systematically evaluating the services of different ele-
ments and different types is also extremely urgent.
(3) Reveal the evolutionary characteristics of CSs over a
long period of time. Through analysis of multi-source
and heterogeneous historical data, the evolutionary dy-
namics of the spatial scale and proportion of CSs can be
discovered. On this basis, the evolution law and trans-
formation rule of quantity combination and spatial
layout can be condensed.
(4) Excavate the quantitative evolutionary mechanism of
CSs. Extracting and exploring the key factors and their
interconnections affecting the growth, development, and
spatial distribution of CSs in the process of regional
development lays solid foundations for establishing a
comprehensive analysis framework for the driving
mechanisms of CSs.
 LIN H.-X. et al. / Advances in Climate Change Research 10 (2019) 115e123
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
This research was financially supported by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (41690145).
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