Lakes are sensitive indicators of anthropogenic climate change and also respond to direct human activities. Yet, long-term lake inventories and quantitative evaluation of the factors driving observed lake changes across China remain elusive. Here, for the first time, we examined multi-decadal lake area changes in China during 1960s-2015, using historical topographic maps and > 3831 Landsat satellite images, including lakes as fine as km(2) in size. In addition, we quantified the causes of lake changes from climatic and anthropogenic factors. The total area of lakes in China has increased by 5858.06 km(2) (9%) between 1960s and 2015, and with heterogeneous spatial variations. Lake area changes in the Tibetan Plateau, Xinjiang, and Northeast Plain and Mountain regions reveal significant increases of 5676.75, 1417.15, 1134.87 km(2) (>= 15%), respectively, but the Inner-Mongolian Plateau shows an obvious decrease of 1223.76 km(2) (22%). We find that 141 new lakes have appeared predominantly in the arid western China; but 333 lakes, mainly located in the humid eastern China, have disappeared over the past five decades. We conclude that climate factors have played a dominant role in lake changes across China, coupled with noticeable anthropogenic contribution of similar to 35% in the Eastern Plain and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. This study has substantial implications to improve decision support regarding water-resource management strategies and land-use planning throughout China.
1.Chinese Acad Sci, Key Lab Tibetan Environm Changes & Land Surface P, Inst Tibetan Plateau Res, Beijing 100101, Peoples R China 2.CAS Ctr Excellence Tibetan Plateau Earth Sci, Beijing 100101, Peoples R China 3.Ohio State Univ, Sch Earth Sci, Div Geodet Sci, Columbus, OH 43210 USA 4.Peking Univ, Dept Ecol, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China 5.Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Geog, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA 6.Hokkaido Univ, Dept Nat Hist Sci, Sapporo, Hokkaido 0600808, Japan 7.Chinese Acad Sci, Xinjiang Inst Ecol & Geog, Urumqi 830011, Peoples R China 8.Illinois State Univ, Dept Geog Geol, Normal, IL 61790 USA 9.Jiangxi Normal Univ, Sch Geog & Environm, Nanchang 330022, Jiangxi, Peoples R China 10.San Diego State Univ, Dept Math & Stat, San Diego, CA 92182 USA 11.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Geodesy & Geophys, Wuhan 430077, Hubei, Peoples R China
Recommended Citation:
Zhang, Guoqing,Yao, Tandong,Chen, Wenfeng,et al. Regional differences of lake evolution across China during 1960s-2015 and its natural and anthropogenic causes[J]. REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT,2019-01-01,221:386-404