Study of dynamic changes of lakes in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau based on remote sensing and GIS

Taking MSS image data in 1970's and ETM image data in 2000 as the major data source,the authors studied the dynamic changes of lake areas in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during the recent 30 years by using RS and GIS technology.The results indicate that the total area and the numbers of the lakes in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have increased remarkably with expanding 3 316.52 km2 in total,although the areas of quite a few lakes have been decreasing in the past 30 years.However,the change trends are different in various areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.