Evaporation and surface energy budget over the largest high‐altitude saline lake on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau

Li, Xiaoyan; Ma, Yujun; Huang, Yongmei; Hu, Xia; Wu, Xiuchen; Li, Guangyong; Zhang, Siyi; Wu, Huawu; Jiang, Zhi‐Yun; Cui, Buli; Liu, Lei

doi:10.1002/2016jd025027

Cited by 95 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…For the lake evaporation in the TP, prior studies have discussed the determination of pan coefficients. For example, the direct lake evaporation can be obtained from eddy covariance systems and large evaporation pans for Ngoring Lake (Li et al ., ), Yamdrok Yum Co (Yu et al ., ) and Lake Qinghai (Li et al ., ) in recent years. Ma et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of amplified evaporation due to lake expansion on the water budget across the inner Tibetan Plateau

Song

Sheng

Zhan

et al. 2019

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Over the past decades, changing climate has exerted pronounced influences on the cryo‐hydrological environment on the Tibetan Plateau. One major manifestation is the widespread lake expansions over Tibetan endorheic basins. The enlarged lake water surface areas are expected to significantly alter land‐atmosphere water fluxes, which in return may pose feedbacks to the climate system and hydrological processes. The goal of this study is to investigate the potential influences of the recent lake expansions on amplifying the evaporation flux over the basins of inner Tibetan Plateau (ITP). We detected that the ITP lakes have experienced a net inundation increase of 4,542.3 km2 during 2000–2015, about 95.6% of which was contributed by lakes larger than 1 km2. We further estimated the land and water evaporations based on multi‐source, available actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and potential evapotranspiration data sets, and in situ evaporation records. The differences between land ETa and lake water evaporation were employed to represent the evaporation alternation over newly inundated basin (named “land‐to‐lake” hereafter) areas. The land ETa was estimated based on the average of three commonly used gridded data sets while the over‐lake evaporation was calculated by the empirical correction of potential evaporation estimates by spatial interpolation of pan evaporation. A conservative estimate using the pan coefficient of 0.6 indicates that the newly inundated lake area may have led to a potential evaporation increase of 3.08 ± 1.08 Gt/year on the ITP. The increased evaporation flux is close to half of the recent annual growth rate of lake water storage in the ITP. Despite unneglectable uncertainties, our estimates initiate an important assessment of how the recent lake expansion across the ITP has influenced the local land‐atmosphere interactions and the water cycle. Accounting this evaporation amplification is crucial to reduce the uncertainty in estimating basin‐scale water budgets and projecting the regional water balance.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of amplified evaporation due to lake expansion on the water budget across the inner Tibetan Plateau

Song

Sheng

Zhan

et al. 2019

Intl Journal of Climatology

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“…The time lag between the R n and LE over lakes is closely related to the WD; deeper lakes exhibit longer time lags. A lag of 5 months exists for Lake Superior in North America (mean depth: 148 m) (Blanken et al, ); one of 4–5 months exists over Nam Co in Tibet, China (mean depth: 40 m) (Lazhu et al, ); one of 2–3 months exists over Qinghai Lake in China (mean depth: 21 m) (Li et al, ); and a relatively short lag of up to 1 month exists over Sparkling Lake in the United States (mean depth: 10.9 m; Lenters et al, ). Wang et al () reported a lag of 1 month over Lake Taihu in China (mean depth: 1.9 m).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The high LE events were found over Poyang Lake during the lake‐covered period, which are mainly controlled by dry and cold air masses and continuous high wind speed, that promote turbulent exchanges via enhanced turbulent mixing thermally and mechanically (Li et al, ; H. Liu et al, ). The total high LE events accounted for over 20% of the annual LE at Qinghai Lake (Li et al, ) and the Ross Barnett Reservoir (H. Liu et al, ). However, the high LE events at Poyang Lake account for less than 10% of the annual LE, which is partly due to the limited lake‐covered periods and local‐scale synoptic weather events.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, eddy covariance (EC) systems have been used to measure the latent heat (LE) and sensible heat ( H ) fluxes over inland waters of various sizes, depths, and geographical locations (Assouline et al, ; Bouin et al, ; Gianniou & Antonopoulos, ; Granger & Hedstrom, ; Lenters et al, ; H. Liu et al, ; Mammarella et al, ; McGloin et al, ; Nordbo et al, ; Tanny et al, ; Vesala et al, ). EC measurements have also been conducted over very large lakes, including Great Slave Lake in Canada (Blanken et al, ; Rouse et al, ), Great Bear Lake in Canada (Rouse et al, ), Lake Superior in the United States (Blanken et al, ; Spence et al, ), and Qinghai Lake (Li et al, ) and Lake Taihu in China (Lee et al, ; Xiao et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Liu et al, 2012;Mammarella et al, 2015;McGloin et al, 2014;Nordbo et al, 2011;Tanny et al, 2011;Vesala et al, 2006). EC measurements have also been conducted over very large lakes, including Great Slave Lake in Canada (Blanken et al, 2000;Rouse et al, 2003), Great Bear Lake in Canada (Rouse et al, 2008), Lake Superior in the United States Spence et al, 2011), and Qinghai Lake (Li et al, 2016) and Lake Taihu in China (Lee et al, 2014;Xiao et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variability of Surface Heat Fluxes and Its Driving Forces at Different Time Scales Over a Large Ephemeral Lake in China

Zhao

Liu

2018

JGR Atmospheres

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Poyang Lake is the largest freshwater lake in China. It is considered as an ephemeral lake—experiencing dynamic seasonal transitions ranging from a lake surface to wetland conditions. The influence of the seasonal water level transition on lake‐atmosphere energy exchange can have important consequences for local climate and water resource management. Here we study the dynamics of surface‐atmosphere energy exchange and examine the hydrological and meteorological controls on its partitioning for the period August 2013 to July 2016. Change in the water depth (WD) directly impacts water surface contribution and the inundated duration. The latent heat (LE) and sensible heat (H) fluxes showed an unimodal diurnal pattern in the wetland‐covered period and changed to an irregular pattern during the lake‐covered period when water surface contribution exceeded a value of 62%. The Bowen ratio (H/LE) was large/small in the wetland‐/lake‐covered period and decreased significantly with increasing WD. On a diurnal and daily timescale, the LE and H showed less dependence on wind speed (U) and water vapor or temperature gradient and greater dependence on net radiation when transitioning from the lake‐covered period to wetland‐covered period, respectively. On a monthly timescale, both the LE and H were mainly controlled by the net radiation. However, the interannual variations in LE and H were significantly correlated with the inundated duration and WD over Poyang Lake. The decreasing trend in Poyang Lake level, therefore, has potential to reduce lake evaporation and local precipitation and further amplify regional hydrometeorological droughts.

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Impacts of groundwater flow on the evolution of a thermokarst lake in the permafrost–dominated region on the Qinghai–Tibet plateau

Wang

et al. 2021

Hydrological Processes

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As a result of global warming induced permafrost degradation in recent decades, thermokarst lakes in the Qinghai–Tibet plateau (QTP) have been regulating local hydrological and ecological processes. Simulations with coupled moisture–heat numerical models in the Beiluhe basin (located in the hinterland of permafrost regions on the QTP) have provided insights into the interaction between groundwater flow and the freeze–thaw process. A total of 30 modified SUTRA scenarios were established to examine the effects of hydrodynamic forces, permeability, and climate on thermokarst lakes. The results indicate that the hydrodynamic condition variables regulate the permafrost degradation around the lakes. In case groundwater recharges to the lake, a low–temperature groundwater flow stimulates the expansion of the surrounding thawing regions through thermal convection. The thawing rate of the permafrost underlying the lake intensifies when groundwater is discharged from the lake. Under different permeability conditions, spatiotemporal variations in the active layer thickness significantly influence the occurrence of an open talik at the lake bottom. A warmer and wetter climate will inevitably lead to a sharp decrease in the upper limit of the surrounding permafrost, with a continual decrease in the duration of open talik events. Overall, our results underscore that comprehensive consideration of the relevant hydrologic processes is critical for improving the understanding of environmental and ecological changes in cold environments.

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Evaporation and surface energy budget over the largest high‐altitude saline lake on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau

Cited by 95 publications

References 51 publications

Impact of amplified evaporation due to lake expansion on the water budget across the inner Tibetan Plateau

Impact of amplified evaporation due to lake expansion on the water budget across the inner Tibetan Plateau

Variability of Surface Heat Fluxes and Its Driving Forces at Different Time Scales Over a Large Ephemeral Lake in China

Impacts of groundwater flow on the evolution of a thermokarst lake in the permafrost–dominated region on the Qinghai–Tibet plateau

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