Impact of Eastern Tibetan Plateau Glacier Melt on Land Water Storage Change across the Yangtze River Basin

Abstract

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) glaciers have been consistently retreating for decades and accelerating their retreat in recent years. It would impact the river water resources that originate from the QTP, such as the Yangtze River Basin (YRB). Therefore, there is an urgent need to study the relationship between QTP glacier melt and land water storage changes (LWSC) across the YRB. Here, the investigation will be inferred by combining data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE); the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat); a 3-arc-second digital elevation model of the Shuttle Radar Terrestrial Mission (SRTM); a hydrological model; and in situ hydrological and weather stations. The results indicate that (1) the glacier melt in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau (ETP) is a result of the increasing temperature and the LWSC in the YRB are increasing, (2) the contribution of ETP glacier melt to the LWSC in the YRB was close to 20% during the period 2003–2009, (3) the maximum correlation between them is 0.45 with a lag of approximately 9 months, and (4) the LWSC in the YRB are primarily from precipitation and secondarily from the ETP glacier melt. Our research provides important information for applications within China’s South-to-North Water Transfer Project and water resource management.