Climate Change Indicated by the Recent Change of Inland Lakes in Northwest China

Abstract

Inland lakes are sensitive indicators of climate change. High mountain lakes, due to less influence from human activity, can reflect the climate state accurately. On the other hand, the lake at the end of an inland river may change under the effect of both the human activity and the natural variation. In this article, area changes of some inland lakes in Northwest China in recent years were analyzed using data from NOAA/AVHRR and EOS/MODIS. The results show that the Har Lake in higher west part of the Qilian Mountains is expanding; the Big Sugan Lake and the Small Sugan Lake in lower west part of the Qilian Mountains are stable. There is more precipitation in the Heihe valley in 2002. The area of inland and higher mountain lakes in Xinjiang increases notably in 2002. This suggests an increase in precipitation and meltwater of snow and ice in these regions. Attention should be given to these changes.