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Mapping global lake dynamics reveals the emerging roles of small lakes

Pi, Xuehui ; Luo, Qiuqi ; Feng, Lian ; Xu, Yang ; Tang, Jing LU orcid ; Liang, Xiuyu ; Ma, Enze ; Cheng, Ran ; Fensholt, Rasmus and Brandt, Martin , et al. (2022) In Nature Communications 13(1).
Abstract

Lakes are important natural resources and carbon gas emitters and are undergoing rapid changes worldwide in response to climate change and human activities. A detailed global characterization of lakes and their long-term dynamics does not exist, which is however crucial for evaluating the associated impacts on water availability and carbon emissions. Here, we map 3.4 million lakes on a global scale, including their explicit maximum extents and probability-weighted area changes over the past four decades. From the beginning period (1984–1999) to the end (2010–2019), the lake area increased across all six continents analyzed, with a net change of +46,278 km2, and 56% of the expansion was attributed to reservoirs. Interestingly,... (More)

Lakes are important natural resources and carbon gas emitters and are undergoing rapid changes worldwide in response to climate change and human activities. A detailed global characterization of lakes and their long-term dynamics does not exist, which is however crucial for evaluating the associated impacts on water availability and carbon emissions. Here, we map 3.4 million lakes on a global scale, including their explicit maximum extents and probability-weighted area changes over the past four decades. From the beginning period (1984–1999) to the end (2010–2019), the lake area increased across all six continents analyzed, with a net change of +46,278 km2, and 56% of the expansion was attributed to reservoirs. Interestingly, although small lakes (<1 km2) accounted for just 15% of the global lake area, they dominated the variability in total lake size in half of the global inland lake regions. The identified lake area increase over time led to higher lacustrine carbon emissions, mostly attributed to small lakes. Our findings illustrate the emerging roles of small lakes in regulating not only local inland water variability, but also the global trends of surface water extent and carbon emissions.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature Communications
volume
13
issue
1
article number
5777
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85139173086
  • pmid:36182951
ISSN
2041-1723
DOI
10.1038/s41467-022-33239-3
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
19dba841-d4d1-447c-b52b-452ed10009d1
date added to LUP
2023-01-12 09:12:56
date last changed
2024-04-18 18:33:34
@article{19dba841-d4d1-447c-b52b-452ed10009d1,
  abstract     = {{<p>Lakes are important natural resources and carbon gas emitters and are undergoing rapid changes worldwide in response to climate change and human activities. A detailed global characterization of lakes and their long-term dynamics does not exist, which is however crucial for evaluating the associated impacts on water availability and carbon emissions. Here, we map 3.4 million lakes on a global scale, including their explicit maximum extents and probability-weighted area changes over the past four decades. From the beginning period (1984–1999) to the end (2010–2019), the lake area increased across all six continents analyzed, with a net change of +46,278 km<sup>2</sup>, and 56% of the expansion was attributed to reservoirs. Interestingly, although small lakes (&lt;1 km<sup>2</sup>) accounted for just 15% of the global lake area, they dominated the variability in total lake size in half of the global inland lake regions. The identified lake area increase over time led to higher lacustrine carbon emissions, mostly attributed to small lakes. Our findings illustrate the emerging roles of small lakes in regulating not only local inland water variability, but also the global trends of surface water extent and carbon emissions.</p>}},
  author       = {{Pi, Xuehui and Luo, Qiuqi and Feng, Lian and Xu, Yang and Tang, Jing and Liang, Xiuyu and Ma, Enze and Cheng, Ran and Fensholt, Rasmus and Brandt, Martin and Cai, Xiaobin and Gibson, Luke and Liu, Junguo and Zheng, Chunmiao and Li, Weifeng and Bryan, Brett A.}},
  issn         = {{2041-1723}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Communications}},
  title        = {{Mapping global lake dynamics reveals the emerging roles of small lakes}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33239-3}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41467-022-33239-3}},
  volume       = {{13}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}