Water level of Qinghai Lake rises by 2.5m in a dozen of years

“According to analysis, in 2018, the Qinghai Lake water level continues to rise due to high precipitation; and the current water level is about the same as that in the 1970s. it is really rare.” Said Ma Zhanliang, a senior engineer with the Qinghai Climate Center.

Qinghai Lake is the largest inland plateau salt lake in China and is an important water body maintaining ecological security in northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, a natural barrier preventing desertification in the west from spreading to the east. The lake’s ecological environment and change has great impact on the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai province, the Sanjiangyuan area(the source area of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Lancang River) and the Qilian Mountains, and somehow reflects the changing trends of overall ecological environment of the Qinghai -Tibet Plateau.

“In 2018, the average precipitation of the Qinghai Lake basin is 503.7 millimeter, which is 30% higher than that of average year( the year 1981 to the year 2010). ” Ma Zhanliang said that the year 2018 is a really wet year.

Ma added that the high precipitation has led to the high water level of Qinghai Lake, which has risen by a total of 2.55 meters since 2005. What’s more, the rising water level is beneficial to the surrounding climate, which would be more humid and warmer.