The lakes of the Tibetan highlands have changed their seasonal regime due to global warming. This was reported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Studying seasonal changes in lakes relied on a combination of satellite imagery and computer simulations. It turned out that today the duration of the full ice cover of the lakes from the south to the north of the Tibetan Plateau ranges from 15 to 215 days. For each degree of latitude, the cover period changes for a total of 17 days.

Later, scientists resorted to computer modeling to reconstruct the glaciation time in the second half of the 20th century, when satellite imagery was not available. For a total of 132 lakes, it was possible to create provisional models for the period from 1978 to 2016. In the 1970s, it turned out that the surface of lakes freezes earlier and melts faster. Global warming has reduced the average annual glaciation time.

Since the life cycles of many animals, especially insects and fish, depend on glaciation, this data is needed to assess the ecological consequences of warming in the region.