WATER LEVEL CHANGES OF NAM-CO LAKE BASED ON SATELLITE ALTIMETRY DATA SERIES

Abstract. Nam-Co Lake is the largest saltwater lake in Tibet and less influenced by human activity. In order to study the change of water level of Nam-Co Lake over the past decades and the impacts of climate change on the region, this paper combined height measurements of ERS-1, ERS-2, ENVISAT, ICESat-2 and CryoSat-2. We found that the water level of Nam Co Lake experienced three periods of change, namely, slightly decreasing period (1992–1993), significantly increasing period (1995–2005), and stable period (2006–2015). The change is consistent with the change of meteorological factors in the Nam-Co Basin. The increase of glacier melt water and precipitation in the basin is considered to be the cause of the overall trend of water level.