Isotopic variation in the lake water balance at the Yamdruk‐tso basin,southern Tibetan Plateau |
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| Authors: | Lide Tian Zhongfang Liu Tongliang Gong Changliang Yin Wusheng Yu Tandong Yao |
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| Institution: | 1. Laboratory of Environmental Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, People's Republic of China;2. State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Sciences, Cold and Arid Region Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, CAS, Lanzhou 730000, People's Republic of China;3. Tibet Institute of Water Resource Survey Planning Design and Research, Lhasa 850000, Tibet |
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| Abstract: | The use of stable isotopes is a practical tool in the study of the lake water budget. This is an one way to study the hydrological cycle in the large numbers of inland lakes on the Tibetan Plateau, in which the isotope record of the sediment is believed to reflect the climatic and environmental changes. The monitoring of stable isotopes of the precipitation, river and lake waters during 2004 in the inland Yamdruk‐tso basin, southern Tibetan Plateau, reveals the lake water δ18O is over 10‰ higher than the local precipitation. This high difference indicates strong isotope enrichment due to lake water evaporation. The simulation results based on the isotope technique show that the present lake water δ18O level corresponds to an average relative humidity of around 54–58% during evaporation, which is very close to the instrumental observation. The simulation results also show that the inland lakes on the Tibetan Plateau have a strong adjustability to the isotope shift of input water δ18O. On average, the isotope component in the inland lake water is to a large extent controlled by the local relative humidity, and can also be impacted by a shift of the local precipitation isotope component. This is probably responsible for the large consistence in the isotope component in the extensive inland lakes on the Tibetan Plateau. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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| Keywords: | stable isotope inland lake lake water balance Yamdruk‐tso basin Tibetan Plateau |
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