the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
| 12 Nov 2021
Lake area and volume variation in the endorheic basin of the Tibetan Plateau from 1989 to 2019
Abstract. The Tibetan Plateau, known as "the third pole of the Earth", is a region susceptible to climate change. With little human disturbance, lake storage changes serve as a unique indicator of climate change, but comprehensive lake storage data are rare in the region, especially for the lakes with an area less than 10 km2 which are the most sensitive to environmental changes. In this paper, we completed a census of annual lake volume change for 976 lakes larger than 1 km2 in the endorheic basin of the Tibetan Plateau (EBTP) during 1989–2019 using Landsat imagery and digital terrain models. Validation and comparison with several existing studies indicate that our data are more reliable. Lake volume in the EBTP exhibited a net increase of 193.45 km3 during the time period with an increasing rate of 6.45 km3 year−1. In general, the larger the lake area, the greater the lake volume change, though there are some exceptions. Lakes with an area less than 10 km2 have more severe volume change whether decreasing or increasing. This research complements existing lake studies by providing a comprehensive and long-term lake volume change data for the region. The dataset is available on Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5543615, Wang et al., 2021).
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RC1: 'Comment on essd-2021-331', Anonymous Referee #1, 24 Dec 2021
The authors completed a census of annual lake volume change for 976 lakes larger than 1 km2 in the endorheic basin of the Tibetan Plateau (EBTP) during 1989-2019 using Landsat data and DTMs. Comparison with several existing studies indicate that their data are more reliable. Lake volume in the EBTP exhibited a net increase of 193.45 km3 during the time period with an increasing rate of 6.45 km3 year−1. Lakes with an area less than 10 km2 have more severe volume change whether decreasing or increasing.
This work is helpful for readers and can be useful for providing a comprehensive and long-term lake volume change data for the region. The topic of this manuscript fits certainly under the scope of “Earth System Science Data”. Moreover, it is well written and the figures are of high quality. In my view the paper should definitely be published in “Earth System Science Data” with a moderate revision. However, the following comments should be taken into account before acceptance.
Major comments
The paper requires careful checking and correction of grammar throughout. In some cases the wrong words are used which can confuse the reader. I would like to request the authors to give more deepened discussion about the factors influencing the range of the change rates for different lakes. More references should be added to the discussion section. In addition, some references should also be introduced to provide the statements about the management of Alpine lakes.
Specific comments
The abstract mentions “especially for the lakes with an area less than 10 km2 which are the most sensitive to environmental changes”, which is not mentioned in the Introduction section.
Introduction: The authors need to highlight any and all novelty in this section. This could be achieved by more clearly identifying a need for the work in the literature review, and highlighting new findings more in the Discussion.
Line 58: some? This is not a clear statement and should be better explained.
Line 176: Please identify the methods used by Otsu et al. (1979).
Line 191: Space between Landsat-8 and parentheses.
Line 193: why 2%? Can you add a reference here?
Line 386-388: There were no new insights. I suggested that this paragraph should be deleted.
Line 400: If you want to use “significantly”, you have to give the P value.
Line 458-461: This paragraph is too simple, it needs a detailed statement.
Discussions: This section is relatively weak. I would like to request the authors to give more deepened discussion about the factors influencing the range of the change rates for different lakes. More references should be added to this section.
Line 494: “Besides, some other situations also affect the choice” -> Please try to avoid this vague expression.
Line 510: The range of the change rates for the lakes in 1 - 10 km2 is larger than that for the lakes in 10 - 50 km2. I am very glad to see this research. The authors should add the following reference to support your findings.
Luo Shuangxiao, Song Chunqiao, Zhan Pengfei, et al., 2021. Refined estimation of lake water level and storage changes on the Tibetan Plateau from ICESat/ICESat-2. Catena, 200, 105177.
Line 542: Why focus on lake area instead of volume change? Please explain it. In my impression, there are still many studies on volume change.
Conclusions: The authors have to justify their conclusion by using quantitative description.
Table 5: Please keep the same number of decimal places.
Figure 15 & Table 6: Please indicate the meaning of RLV. Generally speaking, readers can understand the meaning of the table or figure by taking it out alone.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2021-331-RC1 -
RC2: 'Comment on essd-2021-331', Anonymous Referee #2, 10 Mar 2022
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2021-331/essd-2021-331-RC2-supplement.pdf
Status: closed
-
RC1: 'Comment on essd-2021-331', Anonymous Referee #1, 24 Dec 2021
The authors completed a census of annual lake volume change for 976 lakes larger than 1 km2 in the endorheic basin of the Tibetan Plateau (EBTP) during 1989-2019 using Landsat data and DTMs. Comparison with several existing studies indicate that their data are more reliable. Lake volume in the EBTP exhibited a net increase of 193.45 km3 during the time period with an increasing rate of 6.45 km3 year−1. Lakes with an area less than 10 km2 have more severe volume change whether decreasing or increasing.
This work is helpful for readers and can be useful for providing a comprehensive and long-term lake volume change data for the region. The topic of this manuscript fits certainly under the scope of “Earth System Science Data”. Moreover, it is well written and the figures are of high quality. In my view the paper should definitely be published in “Earth System Science Data” with a moderate revision. However, the following comments should be taken into account before acceptance.
Major comments
The paper requires careful checking and correction of grammar throughout. In some cases the wrong words are used which can confuse the reader. I would like to request the authors to give more deepened discussion about the factors influencing the range of the change rates for different lakes. More references should be added to the discussion section. In addition, some references should also be introduced to provide the statements about the management of Alpine lakes.
Specific comments
The abstract mentions “especially for the lakes with an area less than 10 km2 which are the most sensitive to environmental changes”, which is not mentioned in the Introduction section.
Introduction: The authors need to highlight any and all novelty in this section. This could be achieved by more clearly identifying a need for the work in the literature review, and highlighting new findings more in the Discussion.
Line 58: some? This is not a clear statement and should be better explained.
Line 176: Please identify the methods used by Otsu et al. (1979).
Line 191: Space between Landsat-8 and parentheses.
Line 193: why 2%? Can you add a reference here?
Line 386-388: There were no new insights. I suggested that this paragraph should be deleted.
Line 400: If you want to use “significantly”, you have to give the P value.
Line 458-461: This paragraph is too simple, it needs a detailed statement.
Discussions: This section is relatively weak. I would like to request the authors to give more deepened discussion about the factors influencing the range of the change rates for different lakes. More references should be added to this section.
Line 494: “Besides, some other situations also affect the choice” -> Please try to avoid this vague expression.
Line 510: The range of the change rates for the lakes in 1 - 10 km2 is larger than that for the lakes in 10 - 50 km2. I am very glad to see this research. The authors should add the following reference to support your findings.
Luo Shuangxiao, Song Chunqiao, Zhan Pengfei, et al., 2021. Refined estimation of lake water level and storage changes on the Tibetan Plateau from ICESat/ICESat-2. Catena, 200, 105177.
Line 542: Why focus on lake area instead of volume change? Please explain it. In my impression, there are still many studies on volume change.
Conclusions: The authors have to justify their conclusion by using quantitative description.
Table 5: Please keep the same number of decimal places.
Figure 15 & Table 6: Please indicate the meaning of RLV. Generally speaking, readers can understand the meaning of the table or figure by taking it out alone.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2021-331-RC1 -
RC2: 'Comment on essd-2021-331', Anonymous Referee #2, 10 Mar 2022
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2021-331/essd-2021-331-RC2-supplement.pdf
Data sets
Lake area and volume variation data in the endorheic basin of the Tibetan Plateau from 1989 to 2019 Junxiao Wang; Liuming Wang; Mengyao Li; Liping Zhu; Xingong Li https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5543615
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Cited
4 citations as recorded by crossref.
- Response of terrestrial water storage and its change to climate change in the endorheic Tibetan Plateau L. Wang et al. 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128231
- Solid Water Melt Dominates the Increase of Total Groundwater Storage in the Tibetan Plateau Y. Zou et al. 10.1029/2022GL100092
- Lake Evaporation and Its Effects on Basin Evapotranspiration and Lake Water Storage on the Inner Tibetan Plateau L. Wang et al. 10.1029/2022WR034030
- Delineation of endorheic drainage basins in the MERIT-Plus dataset for 5 and 15 minute upscaled river networks A. Prusevich et al. 10.1038/s41597-023-02875-9