A study found that lake water storage on the Inner Tibetan Plateau increases with climate change

The Inner Tibetan Plateau is an inland basin with densely dispersed lakes that act as “guards” for climate change. With the climate warming and wetting, the lakes on the Inner Tibetan Plateau have experienced a great expansion. Thus, drainage reorganization events can occur, which in turn poses a flood hazard to the surrounding villages and roads. They can also break existing watersheds, bringing them closer to water-repellent basins and threatening the ecological environment.

Therefore, an effective and accurate estimation of lake water storage (LWS) changes over the Inner Tibetan Plateau under climate change is urgently needed.

Recently, a collaborative research team led by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences estimated the LWS of 18 lakes (each with an area greater than 300 km)2) on the Inner Tibetan Plateau from 2002 to 2018 using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data and Earth surface model simulations. The study has been published in Science Bulletin.

“The estimated LWS is in good agreement with multi-source satellite altimetry data. The LWS lake in 18 lakes on the Inner Tibetan Plateau has expanded rapidly with an average increase of 26.92 mm per year,” said Professor Jia Pengao, first author of the book. Stady. “The rate of increasing LWS by the middle of the 21st century for an intermediate scenario is projected to fall to 40% of that in recent decades based on the artificial neural network model.” This prediction is supported by terrestrial water storage and glacial runoff projections over the Inner Tibetan Plateau.

The results of this study highlight the importance of water resource mitigation and adaptation to avoid flood threats from increasing LWS on the Inner Tibetan Plateau.

said Professor Xie Zhenghui, corresponding author of the study.