《Lake Area Changes and the main causes in the hinterland of Badain Jaran Desert during 19732010 China》.pdfVIP

Sciences in Cold and Arid Regions Volume 6, Issue 1, February, 2014 Citation: Zhang ZY, Wang NA, Ma N, et al., 2014. Lake Area Changes and the main causes in the hinterland of Badain Jaran Desert during 1973–2010, China.  Sciences in Cold and Arid Regions, 6(1): 22–29. DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1226.2014.00022.  Lake Area Changes and the main causes in the hinterland of Badain Jaran Desert during 1973–2010, China * ZhenYu Zhang, NaiAng Wang , Ning Ma, Yue Wu College of Earth and Environmental Science/Center for Climate Change and Hydrologic Cycle in Arid Region, Lanzhou Univer- sity, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China *Correspondence to: Dr. NaiAng Wang, Professor of College of Earth and Environmental Science, Lanzhou University. No. 222, South Tianshui Road, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China. E-mail: wangna@ Received: March 13, 2013 Accepted: July 1, 2013 ABSTRACT Lake area information in the Badain Jaran Desert in 1973, 1990, 2000, and 2010 was obtained by visual interpretation and water index analysis of remote sensing images, based on the spatial and temporal characteristics of lake area changes during 37 years. Results indicated that the number of lakes declined from 94 to 82 and the total surface area was reduced by 3.69 km2 during 1973–2010. The desert lake area reduced by different degrees in different periods, but this occurred most rapidly during 1973–1990. According to the statistics of lake area changes, lake area decreases mainly occurred in the lakes