Abstract
The Tibetan Plateau, known as "the third pole of the Earth", is a region susceptible to climate change. With little human disturbance, lake storage changes serve as a unique indicator of climate change, but comprehensive lake storage data are rare in the region, especially for the lakes with an area less than 10 km2 which are the most sensitive to environmental changes. In this paper, we completed a census of annual lake volume change for 976 lakes larger than 1 km2 in the endorheic basin of the Tibetan Plateau (EBTP) during 1989–2019 using Landsat imagery and digital terrain models. Validation and comparison with several existing studies indicate that our data are more reliable. Lake volume in the EBTP exhibited a net increase of 193.45 km3 during the time period with an increasing rate of 6.45 km3 year−1. In general, the larger the lake area, the greater the lake volume change, though there are some exceptions. Lakes with an area less than 10 km2 have more severe volume change whether decreasing or increasing. This research complements existing lake studies by providing a comprehensive and long-term lake volume change data for the region. The dataset is available on Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5543615, Wang et al., 2021).
Highlights
Alpine lakes are susceptible to climate change in arid and semi-arid endorheic watersheds (Williamson et al, 2009; Yao et al, 2018)
Lake storage changes serve as a unique indicator of climate change, but comprehensive lake storage data are rare in the region, especially for the lakes with an area less than 10 km[2] which are the most sensitive to environmental changes
We completed a census of annual lake volume change for 976 lakes larger than 1 km[2] in the endorheic basin of the Tibetan Plateau (EBTP) during 1989-2019 using Landsat imagery and digital terrain models
Summary
Alpine lakes are susceptible to climate change in arid and semi-arid endorheic watersheds (Williamson et al, 2009; Yao et al, 2018). We completed a census of annual lake volume change for 976 lakes larger than 1 km[2] in the endorheic basin of the Tibetan Plateau (EBTP) during 1989-2019 using Landsat imagery and digital terrain models. Lakes with an area less than 10 km[2] have more severe volume change whether decreasing or increasing. This research complements existing lake studies by providing a comprehensive and long-term lake volume change data for the region. It suggests that there was a significant increasing trend both in the TP and IB in the recent 30 years. Trends in the IB and EBTB are similar in the 7-year periods but this is not the case in the QB This is mainly due to that most of the lakes are located in the IB.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have