Assessing China’s Lake Changes and
Associated Driving Forces During 1985–2015
Cong Xie, Xin Huang, and Jiayi Li
Abstract
China’s lakes have experienced dramatic changes in recent
decades, but quantitative information on such changes
remains unclear. Here we present a national-scale investi-
gation of lake changes in China during 1985 to 2015 and
further explore the associated driving factors. We found an
apparent increase in the total area of the lakes (increased
by 4616.7 ± 296.3 km
2
). The increasing trend in lake area
has been particularly pronounced in the Tibetan Plateau
Lake-zone (
TPL
) and Xinjiang primarily due to increased
precipitation and glacier/snow melting under global warm-
ing, although significant downward trends (P <0.05) in lake
area occurred in eastern and northeastern China and Inner
Mongolia, dominantly driven by anthropogenic activities.
There are significant negative relationships between rela-
tive lake area and irrigated area, built-up land, and num-
ber of water projects in the East and the Northeast China
Plain (P <0.05). This study provides a crucial basis for
continuous investigation and protection of China’s lakes.
Introduction
Lakes are widely distributed on Earth, constituting vitally
important components of global hydrological, nutrient, and
carbon cycles (Lehner and Döll, 2004). They are dynamic and
complex aquatic ecosystems, holding indispensable ecologi-
cal values and providing essential resources for life (Herd-
endorf, 1982). Under direct exposure to various geophysical
environments, lakes worldwide are highly sensitive to climate
change, therefore serving as useful indicators to assess envi-
ronmental changes (Smith
et al.,
, 2005). Changes in the abun-
dance and area of lakes have broad implications for regional
hydrological and biogeochemical cycles, and water resources
conservation. Therefore, monitoring the spatial distribution
and temporal changes of lakes is crucial for a wide range of
socioeconomic, political, and scientific interests.
During the past few decades, drastic changes have oc-
curred in many lakes around the world under the influence
of both climate change and human activity (Carpenter
et
al.,
, 1992; Lyon and Greene, 1992; Verpoorter
et al.
, 2014).
These changes revealed the diverse responses of lake systems
to the effects of climate and human activity, suggesting an
increasing vulnerability of these lake resources across broad
geographic areas. Under the recent global warming, lakes in
populated regions are particularly vulnerable to the influence
of various human activities, such as human water regulation,
diversion, and consumption (Fang
et al.,
, 2005; Ma
et al.,
,
2010). For instance, over the past half century, the distribu-
tion and abundance of lakes in China have been significantly
altered by excessive anthropogenic activities, e.g., agricultural
irrigation, water diversion projects, and land use changes. As
human population increases, the intensified anthropogenic
forcing has driven complex physical and ecological changes
in China’s lakes, drawing considerable attention to water
shortages, groundwater depletion, and ecosystem degradation
(Jiang
et al.
, 2008; Xu
et al.
, 2016; Zhang
et al.
, 2017). Given
the increasing vulnerability of these lake resources to climatic
and anthropogenic impacts, understanding the spatiotempo-
ral patterns of lake changes and the associated natural and
human drivers under global climate warming are issues of
increasing concern.
To investigate the continuous changes in lakes, targeted
regional studies have been conducted to document the
dynamic lake systems across China, e.g., Tibetan Plateau,
Mongolian Plateau, and Yangtze Basin (Gao
et al.
, 2014; Tao
et al.
, 2015; Xie
et al.
, 2017; Zhang
et al.
, 2017a; Zhang
et al.,
2017c). Despite the substantial efforts that have been made in
identifying lake changes within individual lake regions, there
have been few studies that have quantified the spatiotempo-
ral changes of the nationwide lakes and the possible diverse
responses of lake systems to different regional climates and
various anthropogenic activities. Ma
et al
. (2010a) conducted
a comparative study at the national level between 1960s to
1980s and 2005 to 2006, suggesting that the lake changes may
have been predominantly attributed to climate variations
in North China and human activities in South China. Yang
and Lu (2014) employed Landsat satellite images acquired
in the period of 2005 to 2008 to develop a national inven-
tory of lakes and reservoirs, and estimated the changes in the
lake and reservoir capacity across mainland China. However,
the temporal frequencies employed in these studies may be
insufficient for the continuous monitoring of spatiotemporal
changes in the nationwide lakes. To date, no previous studies
have investigated the current distribution status of the lakes
and their long-term evolution patterns for the entire of China.
In addition, we currently have limited knowledge of the
quantitative relationships between lake changes and climatic/
anthropogenic factors, as well as the effects of land use and
land cover (
LULC
) changes on the lakes across the whole of
China. Therefore, the major objectives of our study are to (1)
document the current distributions of all the lakes across
China in 2015; (2) map the spatiotemporal changing patterns
of the nationwide lakes from 1985 to 2015; and (3) provide
quantitative understanding on relationship between climatic/
human factors and lake changes.
Cong Xie is with the State Key Laboratory of Information
Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing
(LIESMARS), Wuhan University, 430079,Wuhan, China.
Corresponding author: Xin Huang is with the School of
Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan
University,430079, Wuhan, China, 430079; and State Key
Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping
and Remote Sensing (LIESMARS), Wuhan University,
430079,Wuhan, China (
).
Jiayi Li is with the School of Remote Sensing and Information
Engineering, Wuhan University,430079, Wuhan, China, 430079.
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing
Vol. 84, No. 10, October 2018, pp. 657–666.
0099-1112/18/657–666
© 2018 American Society for Photogrammetry
and Remote Sensing
doi: 10.14358/PERS.84.10.657
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
October 2018
657
