Glaciers and Lakes Changes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau under Climate Change in the Past 50 Years

In this paper,we reviewed the recent plateau glaciers and lakes change research achievements,with special emphasis on discussion of the relationship between glacier shrinkage and lake change.In the context of global climate change,the glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau have been generally retreating while the lakes have been generally expanding.Firstly,the researches about glacial terminal retreat,areas and volume variations in the Tibetan Plateau in recent decades have been reviewed and analyzed,and tempo-spatial change characteristics of glaciers have been discussed.Secondly,the lake area,volume and water level changes have been reviewed and analyzed,and tempo-spatial change characteristics of lakes have been discussed.The results show that the retreat speed in the outer edge of the Tibetan Plateau was larger than that of the inland on the whole,the area and water level of the lakes fed by glacial water increased.Finally,the existing problems of the present studies on glaciers and lakes changes and the future tendency were analyzed.