Rapid loss of lakes on the Mongolian Plateau

Lakes are widely distributed on the Mongolian Plateau and, as critical water sources, have sustained Mongolian pastures for hundreds of years. However, the plateau has experienced significant lake shrinkage and grassland degradation during the past several decades. To quantify the changes in all of the lakes on the plateau and the associated driving factors, we performed a satellite-based survey using multitemporal Landsat images from the 1970s to 2000s, combined with ground-based censuses. Our results document a rapid loss of lakes on the plateau in the past decades: the number of lakes with a water surface area >1 km(2) decreased from 785 in the late 1980s to 577 in 2010, with a greater rate of decrease…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 31321061, XDA05050000, 31330012
• CA
  Chinese Academy of Sciences

  Awards: XDA05050000, 31321061, 31330012
• NK
  National Key Research and Development Program of China

  Award: 2010CB950600