Water level variation of Inland lakes on the southeasten of Tibetan Plateau in 1972-2012

Abstract:

Lake water level variation directly records the process of water storage balance in the basin, which is a quite sensitive response to the climate change. We obtained the long-time lake area and level series of the five typical lakes from 1972 to 2012 in the Tibetan Plateau, and analyzed the variation of lake levels in recent 40 years, using the multi-source remote sensing data. The results show that the lake level of three inland lakes ( Pumo Yumco , Taro Co, Zhari Namco)have rose 0.89m, 0.70m,0.40m respectively ,while the two lakes (Peiku Co, Mapang Yumco) showed decreasing tendency, the changes is -1.696m,-0,153m. On the whole, the five lakes have experienced more remarkable changes in 2000-2012 than 1976-1999. In terms of spatial variations, the three lakes which located in south Tibetan Plateau, Peiku Co and Mapang Yumco, have show the consistent variation trend, as well as the other two lakes, Taro Co and Zhari Namco.