Unprecedented lake expansion in 2017–2018 on the Tibetan Plateau: Processes and environmental impacts

Abstract

Extreme events on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) have become increasingly frequent and severe in recent decades in tandem with rapid climate warming and moistening. Thus, it is highly important to investigate their processes, causes and environmental impacts. Using in-situ observations of lake level changes in combination with satellite altimetry data, we showed that lakes on the central TP (CTP) expanded unprecedentedly in 2017–2018, with lake level increases of 1.4–2.8 m at the five observed lakes. This extreme lake expansion occurred over almost the entire inner TP, which was mainly attributed to anomalously high precipitation (approximately 43–97% higher in 2017–2018 than in normal years on the CTP). The rapid lake expansion posed a substantial threat to regional ecosystems, infrastructure, and even residential habitats. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the potential sites threatened by lake expansion on the TP using high-resolution satellite images and perform near real-time observations of lake level changes through satellite and in-situ observations.