Area, lake-level and volume variations of typical lakes on the Tibetan Plateau and their response to climate change, 1972–2019

Abstract

Most lakes have undergone significant changes on the Tibetan Plateau in recent decades, affecting water resources on the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding areas. In this paper, we investigated the variations of 25 lakes in five sub-regions on the Tibetan Plateau from 1972 to 2019 based on SRTM DEM data and Landsat imagery. We used a method to derive lake-levels based on DEM and lake boundaries delineated from Landsat imagery, and then calculated the changes in lake area, level, and volume in 1972 to 2019. We also analyzed the potential impacts of temperature, precipitation, glacial and permafrost melting in lake changes during this period. The results show that the lakes tended to shrink until 2010 in southern and western plateau, after which they began to expand gradually but the overall trend is still shrinking. Limited meltwater from glaciers and permafrost and low precipitation are the main reasons for their shrinkage. The lakes in the central plateau, northwest plateau and northeast plateau tend to expand overall. The reason for the expansion of the lakes is not only precipitation but also the melting of glaciers and permafrost. Overall, the lake changes have gone through 3 phases, namely a slight decrease during 1972-2000, a rapid increase during 2000-2010, and a slowdown in the last decade (2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019). Multiple factors such as temperature, precipitation, the state of glaciers and permafrost have contributed to the changes in the lake.

Sub-fossil chironomids as indicators of hydrological changes in the shallow and high-altitude lake Shen Co, Tibetan Plateau, over the past two centuries

“…Shen Co (Tibetan: Ser Tso) is a shallow (~5 m), highaltitude lake (4,733 m asl), situated in the southern part of the central Tibetan Plateau (30°59'51.75" N, 90°28'45.98" E, WGS84), Naqu region (Zhang et al, 2021), with a lake area of ~52 km 2 . The lake is located near Nam Co (Fig.…”

“…As a result of this increase in precipitation, lake levels in the majority of lakes on the northern and central Tibetan Plateau, including Shen Co (Fig. 6), are rising (Morrill, 2004;Lei et al, 2013;Gao et al, 2014;Lei et al, 2014aLei et al, , 2014bWan et al, 2014;Fang et al, 2016;Ma et al, 2016;Jiang et al, 2017;Yang et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2021). In contrast, the levels of lakes on the southern Tibetan Plateau have decreased due to low precipitation as well as decreasing meltwater input from glaciers and permafrost (Gao et al, 2014;Lei et al, 2014a;Fang et al, 2016;Zhang et al, 2021).…”

“…6), are rising (Morrill, 2004;Lei et al, 2013;Gao et al, 2014;Lei et al, 2014aLei et al, , 2014bWan et al, 2014;Fang et al, 2016;Ma et al, 2016;Jiang et al, 2017;Yang et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2021). In contrast, the levels of lakes on the southern Tibetan Plateau have decreased due to low precipitation as well as decreasing meltwater input from glaciers and permafrost (Gao et al, 2014;Lei et al, 2014a;Fang et al, 2016;Zhang et al, 2021). The rise in lake levels is further exacerbated by declining potential evaporation rates (~13 mm per decade) on the central Tibetan Plateau between 1979 and 2016 CE (Fang et al 2016), due to lower wind speeds and lower solar radiation (Lei et al, 2014a;Yang et al, 2014a).…”

Chironomid (Insecta: Chironomidae) community structure response to hydrological changes in the mid‐1950s in lake Nam Co, Tibetan Plateau

“…Precipitation regimens in the Nam Co region depend on the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) system and the Westerlies (Morrill, 2004; Bolch et al, 2010); the ASM consists of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM), also known as South Asian summer monsoon, and the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) (Yao et al, 2013). Studies from the Naqu region, in which Nam Co is located, have reported an increase in annual precipitation of 15 mm per decade from 1970 to 2010 ce (Fang et al, 2016), causing an increase in lake water levels (Ma et al, 2016; Jiang et al, 2017; Yang et al, 2017; Zhang et al, 2021; Yao et al, 2022). Thus, the combination of both increasing precipitation and increasing meltwater supply has caused more surface runoff and transport of material into the lake via higher fluvial transport (Schütt et al, 2010).…”

Hydrological Characteristics Change of Hala Lake and Its Response to Climate Change, 1987–2018

“…At present, the research on lakes on the TP focuses on examining the changes in lake area [6], level [7][8][9][10] and storage [11][12][13] based on field measurements and remote sensing data. In recent decades, lakes on the TP have generally expanded [12][13][14][15], except for lakes located in the southeastern TP [16][17][18][19]. The number and total area of lakes on the TP have also increased [20].…”