Table 2. Changes in number and surface area of lakes between 1990 and 2015. The uncertainties of lake surface areas are
reported in the parentheses.
lake class
1990
2015
lake changes
number of lakes total area (km
2
)
number of lakes total area (km
2
)
change in total area (km
2
) change in total area (%)
NPML
1
–
10
422
1074.2(±10.4)
381
800.5(±10.4)
–273.7(±14.7)
–25.5(±1.4)
10
–
100
55
1460.2(±18.3)
49
1262.7(±19.7)
–197.5(±26.8)
–13.5(±1.8)
100
–
1000
6
1352(±25.9)
5
1214.4(±31.7)
–137.6(±40.9)
–10.2(±3.0)
>1000
1
1042.8(±6.7)
1
1043(±6.7)
0.2(±9.5)
0(±0.9)
All lakes
484
4929.1(±34.1)
436
4320.6(±39.3)
–608.5(±52)
–12.3(±1.1)
IMXL
1
–
10
595
1479.6(±7.2)
594
1492.2(±12.7)
12.6(±14.6)
0.9(±1.0)
10
–
100
72
1820.3(±22.1)
78
2041.1(±18.2)
220.9(±28.6)
12.1(±1.6)
100
–
1000
12
4582.4(±41.6)
11
5242.3(±50.5)
659.9(±65.4)
14.4(±1.4)
>1000
2
3300.6(±24.1)
2
3111.5(±29.7)
–189.1(±38.2)
–5.7(±1.2)
All lakes
681
11182.8(±53.4)
685
11887.1(±62.7)
704.3(±82.3)
6.3(±0.7)
TPL
1
–
10
797
1994.3(±9.2)
774
2355.8(±14.4)
361.5(±17.1)
18.1(±0.9)
10
–
100
230
8349.5(±25.9)
285
10018.1(±18.9)
1668.6(±32.0)
20(±0.4)
100
–
1000
73
19792.8(±58.7)
86
21405.9(±39.5)
1613.1(±70.7)
8.2(±0.4)
>1000
3
8160.7(±26.3)
5
10865.8(±22.0)
2705.1(±34.2)
33.1(±0.4)
All lakes
1103
38297.3(±69.9)
1150
44645.6(±51.1)
6348.3(±86.6)
16.6(±0.2)
EPL
1
–
10
460
1343.4(±11.3)
466
1268.1(±17.7)
–75.3(±21.0)
–5.6(±1.6)
10
–
100
95
3041.4(±26)
86
2787.4(±27.1)
–254(±37.6)
–8.4(±1.2)
100
–
1000
23
6902.9(±107.3)
20
6441.8(±112.2)
–461.1(±155.3)
–6.7(±2.2)
>1000
4
10263.4(±128)
4
9268.5(±168.6)
–994.9(±211.6)
–9.7(±2.1)
All lakes
582
21551.1(±169.4)
576
19765.8(±205.1)
–1785.3(±266.0)
–8.3(±1.2)
YGPL
1
–
10
60
110.3(±2.0)
58
109.1(±3.7)
–1.3(±4.2)
–1.1(±3.8)
10
–
100
11
354.1(±2.9)
11
316.9(±2.8)
–37.2(±4.0)
–10.5(±1.1)
100
–
1000
3
759.6(±5.0)
3
756(±4.5)
–3.6(±6.7)
–0.5(±0.9)
>1000
0
0
0
0
0
-
All lakes
74
1224(±6.1)
72
1182(±6.5)
–42(±8.9)
–3.4(±0.7)
China
1
–
10
2334
6001.8(±19.4)
2273
6025.6(±28.3)
23.9(±34.3)
0.4(±0.6)
10
–
100
463
15025.5(±46.6)
509
16426.3(±42.6)
1400.9(±63.2)
9.3(±0.4)
100
–
1000
117
33389.6(±131.9)
125
35060.4(±133.1)
1670.8(±187.4)
5.0(±0.6)
>1000
10
22767.5(±133.0)
12
24288.8(±172.7)
1521.3(±218.0)
6.7(±1.0)
All lakes
2924
77184.4(±194.0)
2919
81801.1(±224.0)
4616.7(±296.3)
6.0(±0.4)
Table 3. The abundance distribution and area changes of the lakes (including vanished, shrunk, enlarged, and newborn lakes)
in the five lake zones between 1990 and 2015.
vanished lakes
shrunk lakes
enlarged lakes
newborn lakes
number area (km
2
)
number area (km
2
)
number area (km
2
)
number
area (km
2
)
NMPL
50
128.5
281
675.2
153
192.2
2
3.0
IMXL
49
177.6
322
877.9
310
1637.3
53
122.5
TPL
2
3.1
134
613.8
947
6842.5
49
122.8
EPL
6
20.3
363
2059.5
209
294.4
0
0.0
YGPL
2
2.1
41
54.4
31
14.5
0
0.0
Total
109
331.6
1141
4280.7
1650
8980.8
104
248.3
Table 3). The newborn lakes mainly appeared in Xinjiang (53)
and
TPL
(49), and to a smaller extent in West China (80°
to
90° E, 33° to 40° N). Correspondingly, the
TPL
and
IMXL
zones
also witnessed a large proportion of lake expansion, account-
ing for 57.4% and 18.8% of the 1912 enlarged lakes in China.
In contrast, the shrunk lakes (1,141 in total) are observed
primarily in the
EPL
(a proportion of 31.8%, particularly in
the middle and lower Yangtze Basin), followed by the
IMXL
(28.2%) and
NPML
(24.6%) zones. The lakes in the
EPL
have
experienced the most-serious decline (1,785.3 ±266.0 km
2
)
while the largest increase of lake area (6,348.3 ±86.6 km
2
) has
occurred in the
TPL
.
Temporal Evolution Patterns of Lakes from 1985 to 2105
To understand the temporal changes in the lakes, all the large
lakes (
≥
10 km
2
) were investigated for the seven episodes, i.e.,
1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015. Over the past
three decades, the long-term evolution of the lakes in the
NPML
,
EPL
, and
YGPL
zones (Figure 6a, d, and e) has shown a
significant decrease in surface area (0.48
≤
R
2
≤
0.91,
p
<0.05).
In contrast, a notable increasing trend was found in the
surface area of lakes in the
IMXL
(R
2
=0.66,
p
<0.05, Figure 6b)
and
TPL
(R
2
=0.82,
p
<0.05; Figure 6c) zones, with an apparent
increase in the period of 1995 to 2000. In the
IMXL
, an op-
posite trend of lake area changes appeared in Inner Mongolia
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
October 2018
661
