Abstract
A catchment is the basic unit for studying hydrologic cycle processes and associated climate change impacts. Accurate catchment delineation is essential in the field of hydrology, environment, and meteorology. Traditionally, catchment delineation is most easily carried out where the outflow area can be easily determined because of a well-defined outlet. The obstacle of the current study is to determine accurately the catchment boundary of lakes that are internally draining and, therefore, lack a well-defined outflow (i.e. inland lakes). This study describes a catchment delineation method which demarcated all the catchments of the lakes in the Qiangtang Plateau, especially for the inland lakes and their closed catchments. Lake catchment boundaries determined for the Qiangtang Plateau provide a significant advancement for water resource and climate change evaluation and agriculture production in the area.
Highlights
Background & SummaryThe Qiangtang Plateau, located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau[1] which has high concentration of glaciers[2] and permafrost[3], contains the most inland lakes in the world[4]
Because of the current context of climate change evidenced by rising temperature[5], this region displays an acceleration of warming[6], glaciers melting[7], an intensification of hydrological processes, development of alluvial fans, and significant expansion of lakes[8]
The Qiangtang Plateau has a unique geography marked by high elevation, extended lakes and mountains, sparse vegetation, geological fragmentation and shallow soil with very little anthropogenic influence due in part to a sparse population
Summary
The Qiangtang Plateau, located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau[1] which has high concentration of glaciers[2] and permafrost[3], contains the most inland lakes in the world[4]. The Qiangtang Plateau has a unique geography marked by high elevation, extended lakes and mountains, sparse vegetation, geological fragmentation and shallow soil with very little anthropogenic influence due in part to a sparse population These features make it a key area for global research on climate change[9] because these changes can be studied in isolation of other anthropogenic factors. This study mainly contains three parts: (i) extracting all lakes of the Qiangtang Plateau and calculating their area separately; (ii) producing the detailed classification of their network positions: single lake, tandem lakes, and mixed lakes; (iii) determining the catchments of the above three types of lakes respectively. The acquisition of lake catchments can provide direct support for the establishment of hydrological models, understanding the water balance relationship of lakes, and conducting water resources evaluation These results can give some indirect support for climate change response and impact on agricultural production
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