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重要组成部分。然而，青藏高原湖泊内部的热输送机制和湖-气相互作用在很大程度上仍然未知，这限制了对青藏高原湖泊系统对区域和全球气候变率贡献的定量认识。本项目旨在(1)揭示青藏高原湖泊从微湍流到季节的热混合状态的具体特征；(2)研究大气与湖泊界面的能量和水循环特征。该项目将为青藏高原湖泊热状态与气候水文因子之间的反馈和机制提供独特的信息。该项目的具体目标如下：(i)了解湖泊与大气之间热和质量交换的特点，确定影响因素；（ii）估计湖泊的热特性及其在湖-大气界面热交换和质量交换方面的季节变化；(3)改进和试验适合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)利用耦合模式研究青藏高原湖泊与大气之间的反馈。该项目的结果将为进一步预测当地水资源和区域气候条件提供基础。为了实现提出的目标，该项目将把数值模型与青藏高原黄河源区最大的淡水湖（恩戈林湖）和附近的盐湖（哈江盐池）的实地研究结合起来。项目团队将德国湖泊物理研究领导小组与中国气象研究小组联合起来，集中研究湖泊作为青藏高原气候系统的组成部分，以确保拟议研究的基础和跨学科特征。

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.