Spatiotemporal variations of lake surface area in China and its response characteristics to precipitation and temperature
[Objective]The exploration is aimed at understanding the characteristics of the surface area of natural lakes as an indispensable part of the Earth′s system and the mechanisms driving these characteristics.[Methods]The analysis was con-ducted based on lake surface area data over 37 months obtained from the Sentinel-1 satellite,along with corresponding precipi-tation and temperature data.Ten characteristic parameters including maximum values,minimum values,coefficients of varia-tion,slopes,and amplitudes were utilized to analyze the central tendency,dispersion,and distribution shape of lake changes in China.Correlation coefficients and significance were used as criteria to analyze the response features of lake surface area in China to precipitation and temperature.[Results]It was shown that the lake areas in the inland north and Xinjiang are larger,with an average surface area reaching 20.56 km2 and a large amplitude in monthly surface area,whereas the lakes in the south-eastern coastal river basins are generally smaller,with an average surface area of only 1.35 km2.In terms of the spatial varia-tion characteristics of lake surface area,the average coefficient of variation(CV)of monthly surface area for lakes in the river basins of Northeast China reached 54.92%,indicating extremely high variability.The lake surface areas in the Huai River basin and the Pearl River basin showed a declining trend,while other basins showed a slight upward trend,with the most sig-nificant upward trend observed in the inland north and Xinjiang river basins,where the slope was 0.004 4.Sensitivity to sur-face area changes varied among lakes of different sizes,with smaller lakes more prone to changes in area;the average CV for small lakes(～1 km2)reached 67.91%,while the greatest slope of surface area change for large lakes(>1 000 km2)was 0.35.Lakes in the inland north and Xinjiang river basins and the international river basins of the Southwest showed higher sen-sitivity to temperature changes.Lakes in the international river basins of the Southwest were sensitive to increases in precipitati-on,and a larger proportion of lakes in the Huai River basin,amounting to 63%,showed a negative correlation with precipitati-on.The impact of temperature on lake surface area was generally more significant than that of precipitation.[Conclusion]The variations in the surface area of lakes in China are diverse and complex,with geographic and climatic differences across differ-ent basins leading to variations in the climate impact on lake surface area.Future research should further explore the long-term trends of lake changes and their ecological and economic impacts to more comprehensively understand the role and importance of lakes as part of the Earth′s system.
lakessurface areacharacteristicstemperatureprecipitationclimate changeenvironmental impact assessmentspatiotemporal distribution
万方数据
维普
