Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Zhang, Guoqing
• Yao, Tandong
• Piao, Shilong
• Bolch, Tobias
• Xie, Hongjie
• Chen, Deliang
• Gao, Yanhong
• O'Reilly, Catherine M.
• Shum, C. K.
• Yang, Kun
• Yi, Shuang
• Lei, Yanbin
• Wang, Weicai
• He, You
• Shang, Kun
• Yang, Xiankun
• Zhang, Hongbo

Titel

Extensive and drastically different alpine lake changes on Asia's high plateaus during the past four decades

Ist Teil von

• Geophysical research letters, 2017-01, Vol.44 (1), p.252-260

Ort / Verlag

Washington: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

Wiley Online Library - AutoHoldings Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Asia's high plateaus are sensitive to climate change and have been experiencing rapid warming over the past few decades. We found 99 new lakes and extensive lake expansion on the Tibetan Plateau during the last four decades, 1970–2013, due to increased precipitation and cryospheric contributions to its water balance. This contrasts with disappearing lakes and drastic shrinkage of lake areas on the adjacent Mongolian Plateau: 208 lakes disappeared, and 75% of the remaining lakes have shrunk. We detected a statistically significant coincidental timing of lake area changes in both plateaus, associated with the climate regime shift that occurred during 1997/1998. This distinct change in 1997/1998 is thought to be driven by large‐scale atmospheric circulation changes in response to climate warming. Our findings reveal that these two adjacent plateaus have been changing in opposite directions in response to climate change. These findings shed light on the complex role of the regional climate and water cycles and provide useful information for ecological and water resource planning in these fragile landscapes. Key Points Contrasting patterns of lake change between the Mongolian Plateau (MP) and Tibetan Plateau (TP) A clear inflection point of lake change during 1997/1998 on both plateaus The warmer‐drier climate in MP, contrasting the warmer‐wetter climate in TP, has driven drastically different patterns of lake evolutions