Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Zhang, Guoqing
• Yao, Tandong
• Xie, Hongjie
• Kang, Shichang
• Lei, Yanbin

Titel

Increased mass over the Tibetan Plateau: From lakes or glaciers?

Ist Teil von

• Geophysical research letters, 2013-05, Vol.40 (10), p.2125-2130

Ort / Verlag

Washington: Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2013

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Wiley Online Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The mass balance in the Inner Tibet Plateau (ITP) derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) showed a positive rate that was attributed to the glacier mass gain, whereas glaciers in the region, from other field‐based studies, showed an overall mass loss. In this study, we examine lake's water level and mass changes in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and suggest that the increased mass measured by GRACE was predominately due to the increased water mass in lakes. For the 200 lakes in the TP with 4 to 7 years of ICESat data available, the mean lake level and total mass change rates were +0.14 m/yr and +4.95 Gt/yr, respectively. Compared those in the TP, 118 lakes in the ITP showed higher change rates (+0.20 m/yr and +4.28 Gt/yr), accounting for 59% area and 86% mass increase of the 200 lakes. The lake's mass increase rate in the ITP explains the 61% increased mass (~7 Gt/yr) derived from GRACE [Jacob et al., 2012], while it only accounts for 53% of the total lake area in the ITP. Key Points The 118 lakes in the ITP showed a mean mass change rate of +4.28 Gt/yearWater balance of lakes in ITP explains 61% increased mass balance from GRACEThe increased mass rate was predominately due to lake level/volume increases