Changes in Meteorological Elements and Its Impacts on Yunnan Plateau Lakes

Abstract

In this study, we analyzed the main climatic factors influencing nine plateau lakes in Yunnan Province over the past 40 years (from 1980 to 2019) based on trend and mutation analyses. The results revealed that the air temperatures of these plateau lakes have increased, with an annual average air temperature increase of 0.18 °C per decade, during this 40-year period. From 2000 to 2005, there was an abrupt change in the air temperature increase, the rate of which was 0.20 °C per decade, and there were reductions in long-wave radiation, relative humidity, wind speed, precipitation, and snowfall. In addition, the rising trend in the air temperature of these lakes located in northwest Yunnan (temperate climate, higher elevation) was found to be significantly higher than that of the lakes in central Yunnan (subtropical climate, lower elevation), whereas in contrast, the declining trends in long-wave radiation, relative humidity, wind speed, and precipitation were more pronounced in central than in northwestern Yunnan.