title: Climatic implications on variations of Qehan Lake in the arid regions of Inner Mongolia during the recent five decades.
abstract: The Qehan Lake Basin (QLB) and its system of lakes are located in a marginal monsoon zone and are extremely sensitive to global climate change. In this paper, using aerial photographs from different periods, in addition to MSS, TM, and ETM images, and combining these with regional topographic maps, we analyze lake area changes from 1958 to 2010 and the relation between Qehan Lake (QL) and climate variability. Our results indicate that there was a relatively high lake level in 1959, when the area and volume of the lake were 118.9 km2and 151.9 × 106m3, respectively, but this level was subject to a shrinking trend until 2010, when the lake area was only 28.1 km2, and the water volume was 41.1 × 106m3. West Qehan Lake (WQL) has experienced severe water shrinkage and lake level fluctuation. In 1958, WQL was 80.2 km2in area and 124.1 × 106m3in volume. However, due to a rapid decrease in precipitation and increases in both temperature and evaporation, it began to dry up in 2002. The WQL Water area decreased by 1.82 km2/a, and the lake level declined by 7 m during 1958-2002, so it became an ephemeral lake.
authors.affiliation: Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Mongolian Plateau Environment and Global Change, Inner Mongolia Normal University, 81 Zhaowuda Road, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, 010022, China. chunxinmg@163.com.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5759-1468
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chun
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, 81 Zhaowuda Road, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, 010022, China.
authors.forename: Riguge
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Mongolian Plateau Environment and Global Change, Inner Mongolia Normal University, 81 Zhaowuda Road, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, 010022, China.
authors.forename: Jiyao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Inner Mongolia Repair Engineering Laboratory of Wetland Eco-environment system, Inner Mongolia Normal University, 81 Zhaowuda Road, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, 010022, China.
authors.forename: Wenjun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Mongolian Plateau Environment and Global Change, Inner Mongolia Normal University, 81 Zhaowuda Road, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, 010022, China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yong
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology and Geophysics, National University of Mongolia, Sukhbaatar district 46A/#481, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
authors.forename: Khkhuudei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ulambadrakh
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D057231:Climate Change; D003889:Desert Climate; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D060106:Lakes; D013696:Temperature
keywords: Climatic change; Inner Mongolia; Lake level fluctuation; Semi-arid environment; Wetlands