water Article Analysis of Long-Term Water Level Variations in Qinghai Lake in China Jianmei Fang 1, Guijing Li 1 , Matteo Rubinato 2 , Guoqing Ma 3, Jinxing Zhou 1, Guodong Jia 1, Xinxiao Yu 1,* and Henian Wang 4 1 College of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China;
[email protected] (J.F.);
[email protected] (G.L.);
[email protected] (J.Z.);
[email protected] (G.J.) 2 School of Energy, Construction and Environment & Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, Coventry University, Coventry CV1 5FB, UK;
[email protected] 3 World Bank Loan Project Management Center of State Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing 100714, China;
[email protected] 4 Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 17 September 2019; Accepted: 9 October 2019; Published: 14 October 2019 Abstract: Qinghai Lake is the largest inland saline lake on the Tibetan Plateau. Climate change and catchment modifications induced by human activities are the main drivers playing a significant role in the dramatic variation of water levels in the lake (Dh); hence, it is crucial to provide a better understanding of the impacts caused by these phenomena. However, their respective contribution to and influence on water level variations in Qinghai Lake are still unclear and without characterizing them, targeted measures for a more efficient conservation and management of the lake cannot be implemented. In this paper, data monitored during the period 1960–2016 (e.g., meteorological and land use data) have been analyzed by applying multiple techniques to fill this gap and estimate the contribution of each parameter recorded to water level variations (Dh).