The closed Lake Issyk-Kul as an indicator of global warming in Tien-Shan

Vladimir V. Romanovsky, Saadat Tashbaeva, Jean-François Crétaux, Stephane Calmant, Vanessa Drolon

CNES/Legos, Toulouse, France.
CNRS/Legos, Toulouse, France.
IRD/Legos, Toulouse, France.
IWPH, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

DOI: 10.4236/ns.2013.55076                

Abstract

Lake Issyk-Kul is the seventh deepest lake in the world situated inCentral Asiain theTien-ShanMountainsat the elevation of 1607 m above sea level. This area belongs toKyrgyzstan. From 1927 to 1997 the water level decreased by 3.4 m, and increased by 0.93 m from 1997 to 2011. The article analyzes the impact of the global warming on the Lake Issyk-Kul thermal regime and the components of its water balance: river discharge, precipitation, evaporation and lake level variations. It shows that the global warming has entailed the increase of the Lake Issyk-Kul water temperature down to the maximum depths, and river discharge increase due to the glaciers melting and the evaporation from the lake surface. The air temperature increase of 1 ℃ results in river discharge increas and lake level rise of 44 mm/year and surface evaporation increase of 88 mm/year. TheLakeIssyk-Kullevel increase after 1997, which takes place in the situation of global warming, was caused by the activation of the West air masses transport and increase of precipitation in autumn.

Keywords

Issyk-Kul Lake; Tyup; Jyrgalan;Chon-Kyzylsuu; Juuku Rivers; Karabatkak Glacier;Watershed; Glacier Discharge; Discharge Formation Zone; Water Balance

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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