Lake water storage change estimation and its linkage with terrestrial water storage change in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Tibetan Plateau (TP) lakes are important water resources, which are experiencing quick expansion in recent decades. Previous researches mainly focus on analyzing the relationship between terrestrial water storage (TWS) change and lake water storage (LWS) change in the total inner TP, it is still lack of researches about the spatial difference and the characteristic of sub-region in the inner TP. In this study, we estimated the area change of 34 lakes by using Landsat images in the northeastern TP during 1976-2013, and LWS change by using the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). The results suggested that LWS had shrunk from 1976 to 1994, and then expanded quickly until 2013. LWS had a serious decrease by 13.6 Gt during 1976-1994, and then it increased quickly by 35.4 Gt during 1994-2013. We estimated TWS change, soil moisture change, and permafrost degradation based on the satellite data and related models during 2003-2013. The results indicated that their changing rates were 1.86 Gt/y, 0.22 Gt/y, and -0.19 Gt/y, respectively. We also calculated the change of groundwater based on the mass balance with a decreasing trend of -0.054 Gt/y. The results suggested that the cause of TWS change was the increase of LWS. We analyzed the cause of lake change according to water balance, and found that the primary cause of lake expansion was the increasing precipitation (80.7%), followed by glacier meltwater (10.3%) and permafrost degradation (9%). The spatial difference between LWS change and TWS change should be studied further, which is important to understand the driving mechanism of water resources change.

Automated summary

This study estimated the area and water storage changes of 34 lakes in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, as well as analyzed the changes in TWS, soil moisture, and permafrost degradation. The results showed significant changes in LWS over the past few decades, primarily influenced by increased precipitation.