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Disaster Edges Closer as Tibetan Lakes Swell August 26, 2010
Chinese experts have warned that swelling lakes on the Tibetan Plateau created by thawing glaciers may lead to major disasters.
The water level at Zigetang Co Lake in northern Tibet has risen 1.8 meters in the past four years, while the world's highest salty lake, Namtso, has also risen 20 to 30 centimeters each of the last five years, according to theInstitute of Tibetan Plateau Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The expanding lakes have affected the lives of locals and posed further geological threats. Science Times magazine says more than 10,000 hectares of grasslands in 6 counties in Nagqu Prefecture, northern Tibet, have been submerged as a result of ten nearby lakes swelling their banks.
Zhu Liping, from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, attributed the lake expansions mainly to glaciers that melt at an unprecedented speed due to the warming climate.
"The surface of Namtso Lake has continued to expand since the 1970s sustained by increasing rainfall and water flow from glaciers. Although rainfall contributes most, the accelerating melting of glaciers is also boosting lake level."
Kang Shichang, head of an observation station at Namtso from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, said temperature on the plateau has increased steadily over the past five decades, faster than the worldwide rise in the same period.
Kang said swelling lakes in valleys posed an even greater threat than lakes in flat terrains. "Severe geological calamities such as mudslides and floods will follow if water breaches lake banks," he explained.
Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences
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