Comparative Analysis to the Lake Ice Phenology Changes of Mongolian Plateau, Tibetan Plateau and Northern Europe through Passive Microwave

Abstract

Lake ice is a sensitive indicator for the environment and climate change. In the comparative study of climate change from the three poles (Antarctic, Arctic, and the Tibetan Plateau), the lake ice phenology which is mirrored the seasonal changes of lake ice, and it is an important index for assessing the synchronization and difference of climate change. Based on passive microwave, lake ice phenology of 48 lakes from 1978 to 2017 were extracted for northern Europe, Tibetan Plateau and Mongolia Plateau. A comparative analysis of the temporal variation for the lake ice phenology shows that from 1978 to 2017, the average ice cover duration showed a shortening trend of all regions, and the Northern Europe with the most dramatic shortening. The year of 2000 may be a turning of the lake ice cover duration in three regions. Especially in the northern Tibetan Plateau where is a trend of prolonged ice cover duration after 2000, and the delay of the break-up end date plays a more important role than the advance of the freeze-up start date. For the spatial changes, the variation of lake ice cover duration in the Tibetan Plateau shows a spatially aggregate phenomenon, and both the Northern Europe and Mongolian Plateau show changes with latitude. The comparison of lake ice phenology changes of three regions can provide more basis for climate characteristics analysis or climate change research. In the future work, various remote sensing data will be comprehensively used to obtain more information on lake ice phenology in High Mountain and cold regions. Meanwhile, it will combine other reanalysis data to find the reasons that affect the lake ice phenology, and provide support for the comparative study of the three-pole environment.