scholarly journals Lake area and volume variation in the endorheic basin of the Tibetan Plateau from 1989 to 2019

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liuming Wang ◽  
Junxiao Wang ◽  
Mengyao Li ◽  
Liping Zhu ◽  
Xingong Li
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Volume Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Landsat Imagery ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Lake Volume ◽  
Endorheic Basin ◽  
Models Validation

Abstract. The Tibetan Plateau, known as "the third pole of the Earth", is a region susceptible to climate change. With little human disturbance, lake storage changes serve as a unique indicator of climate change, but comprehensive lake storage data are rare in the region, especially for the lakes with an area less than 10 km2 which are the most sensitive to environmental changes. In this paper, we completed a census of annual lake volume change for 976 lakes larger than 1 km2 in the endorheic basin of the Tibetan Plateau (EBTP) during 1989–2019 using Landsat imagery and digital terrain models. Validation and comparison with several existing studies indicate that our data are more reliable. Lake volume in the EBTP exhibited a net increase of 193.45 km3 during the time period with an increasing rate of 6.45 km3 year−1. In general, the larger the lake area, the greater the lake volume change, though there are some exceptions. Lakes with an area less than 10 km2 have more severe volume change whether decreasing or increasing. This research complements existing lake studies by providing a comprehensive and long-term lake volume change data for the region. The dataset is available on Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5543615, Wang et al., 2021).

scholarly journals Contrasting Evolution Patterns of Endorheic and Exorheic Lakes on the Central Tibetan Plateau and Climate Cause Analysis during 1988–2017

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 1962
Author(s):  
Zhilong Zhao ◽  
Yue Zhang ◽  
Zengzeng Hu ◽  
Xuanhua Nie
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Annual Precipitation ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
Mean Temperature

The alpine lakes on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are indicators of climate change. The assessment of lake dynamics on the TP is an important component of global climate change research. With a focus on lakes in the 33° N zone of the central TP, this study investigates the temporal evolution patterns of the lake areas of different types of lakes, i.e., non-glacier-fed endorheic lakes and non-glacier-fed exorheic lakes, during 1988–2017, and examines their relationship with changes in climatic factors. From 1988 to 2017, two endorheic lakes (Lake Yagenco and Lake Zhamcomaqiong) in the study area expanded significantly, i.e., by more than 50%. Over the same period, two exorheic lakes within the study area also exhibited spatio-temporal variability: Lake Gaeencuonama increased by 5.48%, and the change in Lake Zhamuco was not significant. The 2000s was a period of rapid expansion of both the closed lakes (endorheic lakes) and open lakes (exorheic lakes) in the study area. However, the endorheic lakes maintained the increase in lake area after the period of rapid expansion, while the exorheic lakes decreased after significant expansion. During 1988–2017, the annual mean temperature significantly increased at a rate of 0.04 °C/a, while the annual precipitation slightly increased at a rate of 2.23 mm/a. Furthermore, the annual precipitation significantly increased at a rate of 14.28 mm/a during 1995–2008. The results of this study demonstrate that the change in precipitation was responsible for the observed changes in the lake areas of the two exorheic lakes within the study area, while the changes in the lake areas of the two endorheic lakes were more sensitive to the annual mean temperature between 1988 and 2017. Given the importance of lakes to the TP, these are not trivial issues, and we now need accelerated research based on long-term and continuous remote sensing data.

scholarly journals Monitoring 40-Year Lake Area Changes of the Qaidam Basin, Tibetan Plateau, Using Landsat Time Series

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huiying Li ◽  
Dehua Mao ◽  
Xiaoyan Li ◽  
Zongming Wang ◽  
Cuizhen Wang
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Qaidam Basin ◽  
Salt Lakes ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Landsat Images

Areal changes of high-altitude inland lakes on the Qaidam Basin (QB) of the Tibetan Plateau are reliable indicators of climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. Due to the physical difficulties to access, our knowledge of the spatial patterns and processes of climatic and human impacts on the Basin has been limited. Focusing on lake area changes, this study used long-term Landsat images to map the patterns of lakes and glaciers in 1977, 1990, 2000, and 2015, and to monitor the spatially explicit changes of lakes between 1977 and 2015. Results revealed that the total number of lakes (area > 0.5 km2) increased by 18, while their total area expanded by 29.8%, from 1761.5 ± 88.1 km2 to 2285.9 ± 91.4 km2. Meanwhile, glaciers have decreased in area by 259.16 km2 in the past four decades. The structural equation model (SEM) was applied to examine the integrative effects of natural and anthropogenic factors on lake area. Precipitation change exhibited the most significant influence on lake area in the QB from 1977 to 2000, while human activities also played an important role in the expansion of lakes in the QB in the period 2000–2015. In particular, extensive exploitation of salt lakes as mining resources resulted in severe changes in lake area and landscape. The continuously expanding salt lakes inundated the road infrastructure nearby, posing great threats to road safety. This study shed new light on the impacts of recent environmental changes and human interventions on lakes in the Qaidam Basin, which could assist policy-making for protecting the lakes and for strengthening the ecological improvement of this vast, arid basin.

scholarly journals Plant phenological responses to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau: research status and challenges

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 454-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miaogen Shen ◽  
Shilong Piao ◽  
Tsechoe Dorji ◽  
Qiang Liu ◽  
Nan Cong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Ecosystem Responses ◽  
Research Issues

Abstract Phenology studies the cycle of events in nature that are initiated and driven by an annually recurring environment. Plant phenology is expected to be one of the most sensitive and easily observable natural indicators of climate change. On the Tibetan Plateau (TP), an accelerated warming since the mid-1980s has resulted in significant environmental changes. These new conditions are accompanied by phenological changes that are characterized by considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity. Satellite remote sensing observed widespread advance in the start of the plant growing season across the plateau during the 1980s and 1990s but substantial delay over 2000–2011 in the southwest although it continued to advance in the northeast regions of the TP. Both observational studies and controlled experiments have revealed, to some extent, the positive role of higher preseason temperature and even more precipitation in advancing the leaf onset and first flowering date of the TP. However, a number of rarely visited research issues that are essential for understanding the role of phenology in ecosystem responses and feedback processes to climate change remain to be solved. Our review recommends that addressing the following questions should be a high priority. How did other phenological events change, such as flowering and fruiting phenology? What are the influences from environmental changes other than temperature and precipitation, including human activities such as grazing? What are the genetic and physiological bases of plants phenological responses? How does phenological change influence ecosystem structure and function at different scales and feedback to the climate system? Investigating these research questions requires, first of all, new data of the associated environmental variables, and consistent and reliable phenological observation using different methodologies (i.e. in situ observations and remote sensing).

scholarly journals Dynamic Changes of NDVI in the Growing Season of the Tibetan Plateau During the Past 17 Years and Its Response to Climate Change

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (18) ◽  
pp. 3452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianglin Huang ◽  
Tingbin Zhang ◽  
Guihua Yi ◽  
Dong He ◽  
Xiaobing Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Time Series Analysis ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Lag Time ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Series Analysis

The fragile alpine vegetation in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is very sensitive to environmental changes, making TP one of the hotspots for studying the response of vegetation to climate change. Existing studies lack detailed description of the response of vegetation to different climatic factors using the method of multiple nested time series analysis and the method of grey correlation analysis. In this paper, based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of TP in the growing season calculated from the MOD09A1 data product of Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the method of multiple nested time series analysis is adopted to study the variation trends of NDVI in recent 17 years, and the lag time of NDVI to climate change is analyzed using the method of Grey Relational Analysis (GRA). Finally, the characteristics of temporal and spatial differences of NDVI to different climate factors are summarized. The results indicate that: (1) the spatial distribution of NDVI values in the growing season shows a trend of decreasing from east to west, and from north to south, with a change rate of −0.13/10° E and −0.30/10° N, respectively. (2) From 2001 to 2017, the NDVI in the TP shows a slight trend of increase, with a growth rate of 0.01/10a. (3) The lag time of NDVI to air temperature is not obvious, while the NDVI response lags behind cumulative precipitation by zero to one month, relative humidity by two months, and sunshine duration by three months. (4) The effects of different climatic factors on NDVI are significantly different with the increase of the study period.

Spring phenology outweighed climate change in determining autumn phenology on the Tibetan Plateau

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 3725-3742
Author(s):  
Jie Peng ◽  
Chaoyang Wu ◽  
Xiaoyue Wang ◽  
Linlin Lu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Spring Phenology

scholarly journals Seasonal Response of Grasslands to Climate Change on the Tibetan Plateau

PLoS ONE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. e49230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haiying Yu ◽  
Jianchu Xu ◽  
Erick Okuto ◽  
Eike Luedeling
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau

Paleolake salinity evolution in the Qaidam Basin (NE Tibetan Plateau) between ~42 and 29 Ma: Links to global cooling and Paratethys sea incursions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengcheng Ye ◽  
Yibo Yang ◽  
Xiaomin Fang ◽  
Weilin Zhang ◽  
Chunhui Song ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Qaidam Basin ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Regional Climate Change ◽  
Driving Mechanism ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Early Oligocene ◽  
Global Cooling

<p>Global cooling, the early uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, and the retreat of the Paratethys are three main factors that regulate long-term climate change in the Asian interior during the Cenozoic. However, the debated elevation history of the Tibetan Plateau and the overlapping climate effects of the Tibetan Plateau uplift and Paratethys retreat makes it difficult to assess the driving mechanism on regional climate change in a particular period. Some recent progress suggests that precisely dated Paratethys transgression/regression cycles appear to have fluctuated over broad regions with low relief in the northern Tibetan Plateau in the middle Eocene–early Oligocene, when the global climate was characterized by generally continuous cooling followed by the rapid Eocene–Oligocene climate transition (EOT). Therefore, a middle Eocene–early Oligocene record from the Asian interior with unambiguous paleoclimatic implications offers an opportunity to distinguish between the climatic effects of the Paratethys retreat and those of global cooling.</p><p>Here, we present a complete paleolake salinity record from middle Eocene to early Miocene (~42-29 Ma) in the Qaidam Basin using detailed clay boron content and clay mineralogical investigations. Two independent paleosalimeters, equivalent boron and Couch’s salinity, collectively present a three-staged salinity evolution, from an oligohaline–mesohaline environment in the middle Eocene (42-~34 Ma) to a mesosaline environment in late Eocene-early Oligocene (~34-~29 Ma). This clay boron-derived salinity evolution is further supported by the published chloride-based and ostracod-based paleosalinity estimates in the Qaidam Basin. Our quantitative paleolake reconstruction between ~42 and 29 Ma in the Qaidam Basin resembles the hydroclimate change in the neighboring Xining Basin, of which both present good agreement with changes of marine benthic oxygen isotope compositions. We thus speculated that the secular trend of clay boron-derived paleolake salinity in ~42-29 Ma is primarily controlled by global cooling, which regulates regional climate change by influencing the evaporation capacity in the moisture source of Qaidam Basin. Superimposed on this trend, the Paratethys transgression/regression cycles served as an important factor regulating wet/dry fluctuations in the Asian interior between ~42 and ~34 Ma.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document