China News Service, Xining, April 13 (Reporter Sun Rui) The reporter learned from the Qinghai Provincial Meteorological Bureau on the 13th that the high temperature caused China's largest saltwater lake to melt by an average of 6 days shorter than the past decade.

　　Qinghai Lake is the largest inland plateau saltwater lake in China. It is an important water body that maintains the ecological security of the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and a natural barrier to control the eastward spread of desertification in the west.

The ecological environment characteristics and evolution of Qinghai Lake largely reflect the change trend of the overall ecological environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and have a great impact on the Qaidam Basin, Sanjiangyuan, Qilian Mountains and other regions.

　　According to reports, according to the satellite remote sensing monitoring results on the 12th, the ice of Qinghai Lake has completely melted, which lasted 24 days.

The picture shows the aerial photography of Qinghai Lake Erlangjian Scenic Spot.

Photo by Ma Mingyan

　　According to the analysis of meteorological conditions, Qinghai Lake began to show signs of melting on March 14, and the melted area on March 19 was 604.5 square kilometers, accounting for 15.1% of the lake's area.

Since March 20, the lake ice has melted rapidly, and as of the 23rd, 95.1% of the area has melted.

On March 27, most of the water bodies had melted, except for the floes at the mouth of the Shaliu River in the northern part of Qinghai Lake, Gahai, Haiyan Bay, and Erhai Lake.

On April 12, Qinghai Lake completely melted.

　　The complete melting date of Qinghai Lake in 2022 will be the same as the previous year, and an average of 2 days earlier than the past ten years (2012-2021, the same below).

It took 24 days for Qinghai Lake to melt from the beginning to complete melting. The melting time was 12 days longer than that of the previous year, and an average of 6 days shorter than that in the past ten years.

The picture shows the Qinghai Lake.

Photo by Sun Rui

　　Since mid-March 2022, the temperature around Qinghai Lake has fluctuated greatly.

Among them, from March 11 to 19, the temperature was higher and the maximum wind speed was higher. During the period, the maximum temperature increased by 5.0 degrees Celsius, and the average maximum wind speed was 10.7 m/s, which accelerated the melting process of the lake ice.

Since April, the temperature has gradually increased and the maximum wind speed has increased, which has promoted the complete melting of the lake ice.

Compared with the same period in the past ten years, the average temperature, maximum temperature and minimum temperature in mid-to-late March were 1.0 degrees Celsius to 5.5 degrees Celsius, 0.1 degrees Celsius to 6.2 degrees Celsius, 2.7 degrees Celsius to 3.7 degrees Celsius, and the maximum wind speed was 1.8 m/s to 3.7 degrees Celsius. 3.4 m/s, which is conducive to accelerating the melting process of lake ice, and the entire melting duration is shortened, especially in mid-March.

　　Therefore, during the melting of Qinghai Lake in 2022, the high temperature and the high maximum wind speed are the main reasons for the fast melting speed and short duration of Qinghai Lake, of which the most significant performance was in mid-March.

(Finish)