[Insert Figure 5 here]
3.3 Spatial distribution of lake level changing rates
during
2016-2018
Our results of lake level changing rate are shown in Fig. 6 and Table 3.
Obviously, most lakes experienced a significant
increase
during the period 2016-2018. To be specific, except the lake level of
Nam Co remained relatively stable with little fluctuations, the water
level time series of other lakes revealed the rising tendency with the
mean rate of 0.74 m/a. The three lakes in the northwestern TP, Jieze
Caka, LumajangdongCo, and Heishibei Lake showed significantly difference
in water level rising rates, and the level for Heishibei Lake rose
fastest, reaching 1.39 m/a. The northern part of the TP is located in
the Hoh Xil region, known for complex and harsh geographical
environment. A large number of endorheic lakes are distributed in this
region. As listed in Table 3, most of the lakes were expanding with an
average level increase of larger than 0.82 m/a. The level for XijingUlan
Lake increased at the greatest rate of 1.52 m/a. Ayakkum, the largest
lake in this region, also exhibited a significant increase of 0.83 m/a.
The average increasing rate was 0.66 m/a in the central part of the TP.
The lake levels for Dagze Co and Zhari NamCo experienced the rapid
rising, exceeding 1 m/a. In Qinghai Province, the level for Qinghai Lake
maintained a steady increasing trend of 0.47 m/a.
Overall, most lakes in the northern
Tibetan Plateau experienced a relatively faster rates of water level
rise, compared to those in the NETP and eastern CTP.