Land cover and vegetation in Lake Baikal basin (LBB) are considered to be highly susceptible to climate change. However, there is less information on the change trends in both climate and land cover in LBB and thus less understanding of the watershed sensitivity and adaptability to climate change. Here we identified the spatial and temporal patterns of changes in climate (from 1979 to 2016), land cover, and vegetation (from 2000 to 2010) in the LBB. During the past 40years, there was a little increase in precipitation while air temperature has increased by 1.4 degrees C. During the past 10years, land cover has changed significantly. Herein grassland, water bodies, permanent snow, and ice decreased by 485.40km(2), 161.55km(2) and 2.83km(2), respectively. However, forest and wetland increased by 111.40km(2) and 202.90km(2), respectively. About 83.67km(2) area of water bodies has been converted into the wetland. Also, there was a significant change in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the NDVI maximum value was 1 in 2000, decreased to 0.9 in 2010. Evidently, it was in the mountainous areas and in the river basin that the vegetation shifted. Our findings have implications for predicting the safety of water resources and water eco-environment in LBB under global change.
Dorjsuren, B; Yan, DH; Wang, H; Chonokhuu, S; Enkhbold, A; Davaasuren, D; Girma, A; Abiyu, A; Jing, LS; Gedefaw, M
Observed trends of climate and land cover changes in Lake Baikal basin
Environmental Earth Sciences