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The response of lake area and vegetation cover variations to climate change over the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during the past 30 years

Zhang, Zengxin ; Chang, Juan ; Xu, Chong Yu ; Zhou, Yang ; Wu, Yanhong ; Chen, Xi ; Jiang, Shanshan and Duan, Zheng LU (2018) In Science of the Total Environment 635. p.443-451
Abstract


Lakes and vegetation are important factors of the Earth's hydrological cycle and can be called an “indicator” of climate change. In this study, long-term changes of lakes' area and vegetation coverage in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and their relations to the climate change were analyzed by using Mann-Kendall method during the past 30 years. Results showed that: 1) the lakes' area of the QTP increased significantly during the past 30 years as a whole, and the increasing rates have been dramatically sped up since the year of 2000. Among them, the area of Ayakekumu Lake has the fastest growing rate of 51.35%, which increased from 618 km
2
... (More)


Lakes and vegetation are important factors of the Earth's hydrological cycle and can be called an “indicator” of climate change. In this study, long-term changes of lakes' area and vegetation coverage in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and their relations to the climate change were analyzed by using Mann-Kendall method during the past 30 years. Results showed that: 1) the lakes' area of the QTP increased significantly during the past 30 years as a whole, and the increasing rates have been dramatically sped up since the year of 2000. Among them, the area of Ayakekumu Lake has the fastest growing rate of 51.35%, which increased from 618 km
2
in the 1980s to 983 km
2
in the 2010s; 2) overall, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) increased in the QTP during the past 30 years. Above 79% of the area in the QTP showed increasing trend of NDVI before the year of 2000; 3) the air temperature increased significantly, the precipitation increased slightly, and the pan evaporation decreased significantly during the past 30 years. The lake area and vegetation coverage changes might be related to the climate change. The shifts in the temporal climate trend occurred around the year 2000 had led the lake area and vegetation coverage increasing. This study is of importance in further understanding the environmental changes under global warming over the QTP.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Climate change, Lake area, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, Vegetation restoration
in
Science of the Total Environment
volume
635
pages
9 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85045577818
  • pmid:29677670
ISSN
0048-9697
DOI
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.113
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
f582bc8a-2488-4271-9880-434e03a8459d
date added to LUP
2019-12-22 20:20:21
date last changed
2024-06-12 07:02:05
@article{f582bc8a-2488-4271-9880-434e03a8459d,
  abstract     = {{<p><br>
                            Lakes and vegetation are important factors of the Earth's hydrological cycle and can be called an “indicator” of climate change. In this study, long-term changes of lakes' area and vegetation coverage in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and their relations to the climate change were analyzed by using Mann-Kendall method during the past 30 years. Results showed that: 1) the lakes' area of the QTP increased significantly during the past 30 years as a whole, and the increasing rates have been dramatically sped up since the year of 2000. Among them, the area of Ayakekumu Lake has the fastest growing rate of 51.35%, which increased from 618 km<br>
                            <sup>2</sup><br>
                             in the 1980s to 983 km<br>
                            <sup>2</sup><br>
                             in the 2010s; 2) overall, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) increased in the QTP during the past 30 years. Above 79% of the area in the QTP showed increasing trend of NDVI before the year of 2000; 3) the air temperature increased significantly, the precipitation increased slightly, and the pan evaporation decreased significantly during the past 30 years. The lake area and vegetation coverage changes might be related to the climate change. The shifts in the temporal climate trend occurred around the year 2000 had led the lake area and vegetation coverage increasing. This study is of importance in further understanding the environmental changes under global warming over the QTP.<br>
                        </p>}},
  author       = {{Zhang, Zengxin and Chang, Juan and Xu, Chong Yu and Zhou, Yang and Wu, Yanhong and Chen, Xi and Jiang, Shanshan and Duan, Zheng}},
  issn         = {{0048-9697}},
  keywords     = {{Climate change; Lake area; Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau; Vegetation restoration}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  pages        = {{443--451}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Science of the Total Environment}},
  title        = {{The response of lake area and vegetation cover variations to climate change over the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during the past 30 years}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.113}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.113}},
  volume       = {{635}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}