Characterizing the Water Storage Variation of Kusai Lake by Constructing Time Series from Multisource Remote Sensing Data

A significant shift in the water storage variation patterns of Kusai Lake (KL) on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, triggered by the 2011 outburst of Zhuonai Lake (ZL), has been identified for the first time. The study revealed that while pre-outburst LWS variations were dominated by 1-year and 3.5-year cycles without a semi-annual signal, post-outburst dynamics showed a strong semi-annual oscillation and amplified annual fluctuations. This change was directly linked to altered recharge patterns caused by the ZL outburst, rather than precipitation, evaporation, or glacier changes. The research utilized multisource remote sensing data to construct high-resolution time series (1990–2022) for lake level, area, and water storage, achieving accuracies validated against DAHITI standards. This method offers a novel approach for monitoring short-period variabilities in Tibetan lakes lacking hydrological data, providing critical insights into the downstream impacts of glacial lake outburst events.

Huang, Z., Wu, X., Wang, H., Zhao, Z., Du, L., He, X., & Zhou, H. (2023). Characterizing the Water Storage Variation of Kusai Lake by Constructing Time Series from Multisource Remote Sensing Data. Remote Sensing, 16(1), 128. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16010128