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Shifts in water-level variation of Namco in the central Tibetan Plateau from ICESat and CryoSat-2 altimetry and station observations

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  • Earth Sciences
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Abstract

The dynamics of high-altitude inland lakes in the Tibetan Plateau are sensitive indicators of climate change. Due to the remoteness and hard access, satellite altimetry becomes an effective approach to obtaining large-scale and temporally continuous information of lake-level changes. The CryoSat-2 altimetry is expected to solve the current problem that earlier radar altimeters are only practical for monitoring large water bodies, while ICESat laser altimetry is available only for the period 2003–2009. In this study, the comparison of CryoSat-2 altimetry for Namco with in situ water-level data suggests a high correlation coefficient of 0.71 (P < 0.01), with the mean error of −0.12 m and root-mean-square error of 0.18 m. Further, the combination of ICESat and CryoSat-2 altimetry data and in situ lake-level observations reveals a rapid water-level rise of 0.24 ± 0.04 m/year during 2003–2008 and then a slightly decreasing trend of −0.09 ± 0.04 m/year during 2009–2013. This study suggests that the CryoSat-2 altimetry has the potential of sustaining the fine observations on Tibetan lakes, following the ICESat mission. Besides, the examination of four key climatic variables (temperature, precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and relative humidity) during 1990–2013 indicates that the wetting climate over Namco Basin stagnated or even reversed around 2006, which may be tightly related to the slowing lake growth.

摘要

青藏高原的内陆湖是区域气候变化的重要指示器。近年来,卫星测高技术成为高原湖泊动态的有力观测手段。目前,冰卫星(ICESat)测高数据(2003 ~ 2009年)已成功运用于高原内部湖泊水位变化监测,而高原湖泊水位的持续监测则依赖于高精度的新型卫星如CryoSat-2卫星(2010年发射)。本文选择纳木错作为研究对象,基于实测水位数据,评价CryoSat-2卫星(适中的地面脚点)测高数据的精度。研究表明该卫星获取的湖泊水位与实测结果的相关系数达到0.71 (P < 0.01),平均误差和均方根误差分别为−0.12 m和0.18 m。综合ICESat和CryoSat-2两颗卫星测高数据和实测水位,进一步分析了纳木错水位在2003 ~ 2013年内的变化规律。结果显示,纳木错水位在2003 ~ 2008年处于快速上涨阶段,增速为每年0.24 ± 0.04 m;在2009 ~ 2013时段,水位表现为微弱下降,年变化−0.09 ± 0.04 m。基于气象站点的气候观测数据,纳木错湿季水位增量表现出与降雨量显著正相关,后期的湖泊水位增速减缓甚至下降可能与当地气候干湿变化密切相关。

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Special Basic Research Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology (2013FY111400-2, 2009CB723901), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41120114001, 41125003, 41071254, 40971048), the European Space Agency (ESA AO 2605), the Knowledge Innovation Foundation Program for outstanding Young Scholar of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (KZCX2-EW-QN104). The project was also supported by Open Research Fund of Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environmental Changes and Land Surface Processes in Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science. Their support is gratefully acknowledged. We are also grateful to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the European Space Agency–Earth Observation Missions, and the China Meteorological Data Sharing Service System, for providing satellite altimetry data and meteorological station climate data for this work.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Chunqiao Song & Qinghua Ye

  2. Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Chunqiao Song

  3. State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Xiao Cheng

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  1. Chunqiao Song
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  2. Qinghua Ye
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Correspondence to Qinghua Ye.

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Song, C., Ye, Q. & Cheng, X. Shifts in water-level variation of Namco in the central Tibetan Plateau from ICESat and CryoSat-2 altimetry and station observations. Sci. Bull. 60, 1287–1297 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-015-0826-8

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