Abstract
The Qehan Lake Basin (QLB) and its system of lakes are located in a marginal monsoon zone and are extremely sensitive to global climate change. In this paper, using aerial photographs from different periods, in addition to MSS, TM, and ETM images, and combining these with regional topographic maps, we analyze lake area changes from 1958 to 2010 and the relation between Qehan Lake (QL) and climate variability. Our results indicate that there was a relatively high lake level in 1959, when the area and volume of the lake were 118.9 km2 and 151.9 × 106 m3, respectively, but this level was subject to a shrinking trend until 2010, when the lake area was only 28.1 km2, and the water volume was 41.1 × 106 m3. West Qehan Lake (WQL) has experienced severe water shrinkage and lake level fluctuation. In 1958, WQL was 80.2 km2 in area and 124.1 × 106 m3 in volume. However, due to a rapid decrease in precipitation and increases in both temperature and evaporation, it began to dry up in 2002. The WQL Water area decreased by 1.82 km2/a, and the lake level declined by 7 m during 1958–2002, so it became an ephemeral lake.
Highlights
IntroductionOver the last five decades, in the arid region of northwest China, lake levels have tended to rise, accompanied by an expansion in lake area and an increase in runoff (Ma et al 2008; Chen et al 2009)
Terminal lakes are extremely sensitive to climate change in marginal monsoon zones
The periods were separated as two parts, and the change points before and after the period were compared (Table 3); the results showed that the average temperature of the latter period was higher than the front by 1.15– 1.81 °C, with an increase of 52–241.3%
Summary
Over the last five decades, in the arid region of northwest China, lake levels have tended to rise, accompanied by an expansion in lake area and an increase in runoff (Ma et al 2008; Chen et al 2009). Similar phenomena have occurred on the central Tibetan Plateau (Bian et al 2009; Zhu et al 2010), with the increasing precipitation in northwest China (Li et al 2009; Liu et al 2011) and the change in climate from warm-dry to warm-humid (Shi et al 2007). Over the past three decades, 59 lakes have dried up and disappeared, and the water area has reduced significantly over the Inner Mongolian plateau within the marginal monsoon zone (Ma et al 2010).
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