Lakes as components of the Tibetan Plateau climate system (LaTiCS): Internal mixing processes and lake-atmosphere interaction

青藏高原湖泊是区域气候系统的主要组成部分。然而，青藏高原湖泊内部的热量输送和湖泊-大气相互作用的机制仍然很大程度上是未知的，这限制了人们对青藏高原湖泊系统对区域和全球气候变化的贡献的定量了解。本项目旨在(1)揭示青藏高原湖泊从微湍流到季节尺度的热和混合状况的具体特征；(2)研究大气和湖泊界面的能量和水循环特征。通过这一项目，该项目将提供青藏高原湖泊热状况与气候和水文因素之间的反馈和机制的独特信息。项目的具体目标如下：(1)了解湖泊与大气之间热量和物质交换的特征，确定影响因素；(2)估计湖泊的热特征及其与湖泊-大气界面热量和物质交换有关的季节变化；(3)改进和测试适用于青藏高原地区条件的湖泊参数化方案，并将其应用于区域大气模式；(4)通过耦合模拟方法研究青藏高原湖泊与大气之间的反馈。该项目的成果将为进一步预测当地水资源和区域气候条件提供基础。为了实现拟议的目标，该项目将把青藏高原黄河源区最大的淡水湖(怒林湖)和附近的盐湖(哈江盐池)的数值模型与实地研究相结合。该项目团队联合了德国湖泊物理领导小组和中国气象研究小组，深入研究湖泊作为青藏高原气候系统的组成部分，以确保拟议研究的这一基础性和跨学科特征。

Lakes of the Tibetan Plateau are the major components of the regional climate system. However, mechanisms of heat transport within the lakes and the lake-atmosphere interaction in the Tibetan Plateau remain largely unknown and limit the quantitative understanding of the contribution made by the Tibetan Plateau lake system into regional and global climate variability.The proposed project aims at (i) revealing specific features of the thermal and mixing regime of lakes on Tibetan Plateau at time scales from microturbulent to seasonal ones, and (ii) study the characteristics of energy and water cycle at the interface between atmosphere and lakes. By this, the project will provide unique information about the feedbacks and mechanisms between the thermal regime of lakes and climatic and hydrological factors in the Tibetan Plateau. The specific goals of the project are the following: (i) to understand the characteristics of the heat and mass exchange between lakes and the atmosphere, to qualify the influence factors; (ii) to estimate the thermal characteristics of lakes, their seasonal variability with respect to the heat and mass exchange at the lake-atmosphere interface; (iii) to improve and test the lake parameterization scheme applicable to conditions of the Tibetan Plateau area, and apply it into a regional atmospheric model; (iv) to investigate the feedbacks between Tibetan Plateau lakes and the atmosphere by means of coupled modeling. The outcomes of the project will provide a basis for further projections on the local water resources and regional climate conditions.To achieve the proposed goals the project will combine numerical models with field studies on the largest freshwater lake in the Yellow River source region of the Tibetan Plateau (Ngoring Lake) and the nearby salt lake (Hajiang Salt Pond). The project team joins together the leading group on lake physics from Germany with the meteorological research group from China intensively working on lakes as components of climatic system of the Tibetan Plateau, ensuring by this fundamental and interdisciplinary character of the proposed study.