Wu et al. (2025) Long‐Term Lake Ice Evolution in a Large Endorheic Lake Undergoing Accelerated Shrinkage in a Semiarid Region of China

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Water Resources Research
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-01
• Authors: Tingfeng Wu, Anning Huang, Qi Zhang, Justin Brookes, Wenming Yan, Boqiang Qin, Dequan Han, Xiaofei Hu
• DOI: 10.1029/2024wr038954

Research Groups

Not specified in the provided abstract.

Short Summary

This study investigates the long-term evolution of lake ice in Lake Daihai, a shrinking endorheic lake, by integrating six decades of data and a numerical model. It reveals accelerated lake shrinkage and ice thinning, primarily driven by atmospheric warming, salinization, and morphological changes, highlighting the need for integrated assessment frameworks.

Objective

• To investigate the long-term evolution of lake ice in Lake Daihai, a large shrinking endorheic lake in China, explicitly addressing the effects of lake shrinkage on its ice regimes.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Lake Daihai, a large endorheic lake in China.
• Temporal Scale: 1960–2022 (62 years).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: A three-dimensional hydrodynamics-ice numerical model.
• Data sources: Six decades (1960–2022) of hydrometeorological data, retrieved Landsat images.

Main Results

• Lake Daihai experienced accelerated shrinkage at an average rate of -2.18 km² per year from 1960 to 2022, primarily driven by intensified anthropogenic activities and increased evaporation.
• The annual average lake ice thickness exhibited an accelerated decreasing trend at an average rate of -0.39 cm per year.
• This ice-thinning trend was attributed to atmospheric warming (air temperature increase: 2.5 °C), salinization (salinity increase: 451.3%), and morphological changes associated with lake shrinkage (water depth reduction: -12 m; surface area reduction: -72.9%).
• Model experiments revealed that representative factors (air temperature, salinity, and average water depth) were significantly correlated with ice phenology metrics.
• The relative contributions to ice thinning were: atmospheric warming (36.1%), salinization (18.9%), and average water depth (-15.2%), with wind speed contributing 3.5%.
• Ice thinning was mainly driven by atmospheric warming but slowed by lake shrinkage characterized by a decrease in the average water depth.
• Under ongoing global warming, ice thinning is projected to accelerate by 2031 due to the nonlinear increase in the contribution of salinization in this shrinking lake.

Contributions

• First study to explicitly address the effects of lake shrinkage on lake ice regimes in an endorheic region.
• Quantified the relative contributions of atmospheric warming, salinization, and morphological changes to lake ice thinning.
• Demonstrated that traditional climate-centric models may underestimate or overestimate lake ice dynamics if they fail to account for salinization or morphological changes.
• Underscored the necessity of developing integrated assessment frameworks tailored to shrinking endorheic lakes.

Funding

Not specified in the provided abstract.

Citation

@article{Wu2025LongTerm,
  author = {Wu, Tingfeng and Huang, Anning and Zhang, Qi and Brookes, Justin and Yan, Wenming and Qin, Boqiang and Han, Dequan and Hu, Xiaofei},
  title = {Long‐Term Lake Ice Evolution in a Large Endorheic Lake Undergoing Accelerated Shrinkage in a Semiarid Region of China},
  journal = {Water Resources Research},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1029/2024wr038954},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2024wr038954}
}