Simulation of energy and water budget of Qinghai Lake, China

Qinghai Lake, the biggest saline lake in China, is a mountainous lake located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and has a closed drainage basin. Since the beginning of this century, the lake level has dropped significantly and the lake area has shrunk dramatically. Water balance analysis showed that the water budget deficit associated with decreased runoff was the main reason for the falling of lake level. In order to investigate the changes of hydrological conditions within the lake basin, a catchment model coupled with a lake thermodynamic model was developed to simulate the lake water balance and thermodynamics. The simulated water balance and lake level are quite consistent with observations. This model can be used to evaluate hydrological condition changes induced by external foreing such as climate changes.