Climatic implications on variations of Qehan Lake in the arid regions of Inner Mongolia during the recent five decades

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• 作者：Xi Chun ; Riguge Su ; Jiyao Liu ; Wenjun Liang…
• 关键词：Semi ; arid environment ; Lake level fluctuation ; Inner Mongolia ; Climatic change ; Wetlands
• 刊名：Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：January 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：189
• 期：1
• 全文大小：2052KB
• 刊物类别：Earth and Environmental Science
• 刊物主题：Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Environmental Management; Ecotoxicology; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Ecology;
• 出版者：Springer International Publishing
• ISSN：1573-2959
• 卷排序：189

文摘

The Qehan Lake Basin (QLB) and its system of lakes are located in a marginal monsoon zone and are extremely sensitive to global climate change. In this paper, using aerial photographs from different periods, in addition to MSS, TM, and ETM images, and combining these with regional topographic maps, we analyze lake area changes from 1958 to 2010 and the relation between Qehan Lake (QL) and climate variability. Our results indicate that there was a relatively high lake level in 1959, when the area and volume of the lake were 118.9 km2 and 151.9 × 106 m3, respectively, but this level was subject to a shrinking trend until 2010, when the lake area was only 28.1 km2, and the water volume was 41.1 × 106 m3. West Qehan Lake (WQL) has experienced severe water shrinkage and lake level fluctuation. In 1958, WQL was 80.2 km2 in area and 124.1 × 106 m3 in volume. However, due to a rapid decrease in precipitation and increases in both temperature and evaporation, it began to dry up in 2002. The WQL Water area decreased by 1.82 km2/a, and the lake level declined by 7 m during 1958–2002, so it became an ephemeral lake.