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Arid Land Geography ›› 2022, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (2): 499-511.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000–6060.2021.220

• Earth Information Sciences • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Dynamic monitoring of Balkhash Lake from 1970 to 2020 based on multi-source remote sensing data

ZHANG Yujie1,2(),WANG Ninglian1,2,3(),YANG Xuewen1,2,TAI Xuenan1,2   

  1. 1. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Earth Surface System and Environmental Carrying Capacity, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, Shaanxi, China
    2. Institute of Earth Surface System and Hazards, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, Shaanxi, China
    3. CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
  • Received:2021-05-11 Revised:2021-09-01 Online:2022-03-25 Published:2022-04-02
  • Contact: Ninglian WANG E-mail:18406562105@163.com;nlwang@nwu.edu.cn

Abstract:

Due to climate change and anthropogenic activities, water resource issues are challenging and have attracted significant attention worldwide. Lake level variation is an essential indicator of regional and global climate and environment. For the past few decades, the development of remote sensing has enabled long-term dynamic monitoring of lake levels and areas. In this work, the water level change of Balkhash Lake during the period of 1970—2020 was derived from ICESat-1, CryoSat-2, and the hydro-meteorological stations. Moreover, combined with MOD09A1 data and related literature, the area and water volume change of Balkhash Lake in a long time series were analyzed. The results indicated that during the study period, the water level of Lake Balkhash first showed a downward trend, and reached its lowest point (340.64 m) in 1987, and then began to fluctuate upward. Generally, the water level growth during the year mainly occurred from the end of February to the beginning of June. The water level fluctuates more dramatically in the warm season (from April to October) than in the cold season (from November to March of the following year). The multi-year average water level is the highest in spring and lowest in autumn. From 1970 to 2020, the area of the Balkhash Lake decreased from 19996 km2 to 16641.93 km2, and the lake area decreased by about 16.77%. Meanwhile, the water volume of the Balkhash Lake undergone a total loss of approximately 12.33 km3. The analysis revealed that the dynamic changes of the lake from 1970 to 1987 were mainly caused by human activities, such as the impoundment of the Kapchagay Reservoir and the expansion of arable land in the irrigation area in Kazakhstan. However, the overall trend of temperature and precipitation has no obvious correlation with the dynamic changes of the lake. Owing to the complexity and uncertainty of environmental changes, quantitative discussion of the impact of various factors on lake dynamics requires further research. Multi-mission altimetry satellite provides a powerful tool for the long-term and large-scale monitoring of lake level variations, which is of great significance to the study of lake level change and its response to climate and environment.

Key words: ICESat-1, CryoSat-2, dynamic changes, Balkhash Lake