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Remote Sensing for Natural Resources    2025, Vol. 37 Issue (5) : 1-14     DOI: 10.6046/zrzyyg.2024100
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Monitoring 2018—2022 changes in lake levels across China using ICESat-2 data
JING Ruofan1,2,3(), LIAO Jingjuan1,2(), MA Shanmu1,2,3
1. Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science，Aerospace Information Research Institute，Chinese Academy of Sciences，Beijing 100094，China
2. International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals，Beijing 100094，China
3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences，Beijing 100049，China
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Abstract  

Satellite altimetry enables non-contact，large-scale Earth observation，providing technical support for monitoring changes in water levels of lakes where there is a lack of ground-based hydrological stations. The ICESat-2 laser altimeter features small footprints and high measurement accuracy，enjoying advantages in monitoring small-to medium-sized lakes. Therefore，this study extracted water level data from October 2018 to August 2022 for 1248 lakes across China based on ICESat-2 ATL08 data. The extracted data were validated using measured water level data from 18 lakes and Hydroweb data from 36 ones. Subsequently，based on the division of China's five major lake regions，this study analyzed variations in water levels of 957 lakes that were observed for over two years in at least four campaigns. The results show that the root mean square errors （RMSEs） between ICESat-2-derived and measured lake levels showed a minimum of 0.097 m. The cross-validation with Hydroweb data yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.95 and a minimum RMSE of 0.085 m. These results demonstrate the high precision and accuracy of the water level retrieval based on the ICESat-2 data. The lake levels on the Tibetan Plateau exhibited a slow rising trend，while those in northwestern China showed a declining trend. In eastern China，the water levels of large lakes displayed no significant variation trend，whereas those of small lakes showed pronounced fluctuations. Overall，the lake levels across China exhibited a gently rising trend. This study achieved high-precision measurement and monitoring of variations in lake levels across China，providing a scientific basis for water resource protection，ecological management，and the exploration of the responses of lake levels to human activities and climate change.
Keywords satellite altimetry      lake level      ICESat-2      change analysis      lake region of China     
ZTFLH:  TP79  
Issue Date: 28 October 2025
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Ruofan JING
Jingjuan LIAO
Shanmu MA
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Ruofan JING,Jingjuan LIAO,Shanmu MA. Monitoring 2018—2022 changes in lake levels across China using ICESat-2 data[J]. Remote Sensing for Natural Resources, 2025, 37(5): 1-14.
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https://www.gtzyyg.com/EN/10.6046/zrzyyg.2024100     OR     https://www.gtzyyg.com/EN/Y2025/V37/I5/1
Fig.1  Overview of the study area
Fig.2  Flow chart of this study
Fig.3  Processing of ICESat-2 data of Hulun Lake
Fig.4  Profile of the transit track of Lake Darinor on April 21，2021
序号 湖泊名 重复水位数/个 重合水位日期范围 RMSE/m 相关系数
1 扎陵湖 22 2018年10月—2020年12月 0.097 0.881
2 鄂陵湖 21 2018年10月—2020年12月 0.195 0.894
3 太湖 18 2018年10月—2020年12月 0.462 0.366
4 青海湖 12 2018年12月—2019年12月 0.203 0.766
5 巢湖 10 2018年12月—2019年12月 0.830 0.365
6 乌梁素海 8 2018年10月—2020年10月 0.198 0.555
7 独山湖 7 2019年3月—2019年12月 0.270 0.771
8 南漪湖 6 2018年11月—2019年11月 0.398 0.932
9 石臼湖 6 2018年11月—2019年11月 0.241 0.981
10 阳澄湖 6 2018年10月—2019年12月 0.134 0.416
11 大官湖 6 2018年12月—2019年12月 0.384 0.417
12 菜子湖 5 2018年12月—2019年12月 0.320 0.774
13 高邮湖 4 2018年12月—2020年12月 0.045 0.978
14 微山湖 4 2019年4月—2019年12月 0.167 0.324
15 泸沽湖 3 2019年2月—2019年5月 0.019 0.966
16 洪泽湖 3 2019年6月—2019年12月 0.152 0.933
17 武昌湖 3 2019年1月—2019年10月 0.424 0.982
18 固城湖 3 2018年11月—2019年4月 0.139 0.996
Tab.1  Statistics for verification error using the in-situ data
Fig.5  Comparison of water levels from ICESat-2 and in-situ data
Fig.6  Comparison of water levers from ICESat-2 data and Hydroweb
Fig.7  Distribution of monitored lakes and the number of observations
Fig.8  Statistical of ICESat-2 observed data
湖泊面积
范围/km2		 湖泊数量/个 总面积/km2 上升数量/个 上升面积/
km2		 上升率/
（m·a-1）		 下降数量/个 下降面积/
km2		 下降率/
（m·a-1）
>1 000 4 9 673.41 3 8 672.84 0.207 1 1 000.57 -0.051
（500，1 000] 10 6 561.89 6 3 997.77 0.279 4 2 564.12 -0.146
（200，500] 29 9 698.25 14 4 938.49 0.239 15 4 759.76 -0.132
（100，200] 46 6 264.33 32 4 433.57 0.197 14 1 830.77 -0.120
（50，100] 69 4 956.55 40 2 980.10 0.165 29 1 976.45 -0.094
（10，50] 231 5 411.45 102 2 593.46 0.174 129 2 817.98 -0.148
≤10 345 1 477.06 146 641.12 0.141 199 835.94 -0.192
总计 734 44 042.94 343 28 257.35 0.212 391 15 785.59 -0.129
Tab.2  Trends in water levels of lakes of different sizes in the lake area of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau
Fig.9  Distribution of lake level trends on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau
流域名称 湖泊数/个 上升面积/km2 平均上升率/（m·a-1） 下降面积/km2 平均下降率/（m·a-1）
柴达木内流区 30 5 747.132 0.245 4 554.773 -0.111 4
羌塘高原内流区 532 21 259.077 0.205 9 11 143.659 -0.118 9
黄河源流域 27 148.091 0.114 3 1 295.693 -0.222 2
长江源流域 58 691.819 0.243 8 343.625 -0.047 5
西南国际河流域 73 371.611 0.067 3 2 280.361 -0.145 2
Tab.3  Trends in lake level changes in various basins on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau
湖泊面积/
km2		 湖泊数量/个 总面积/
km2		 上升数量/个 上升面积/
km2		 年均上升率/
（m·a-1）		 下降数量/个 下降面积/
km2		 年均下降率/
（m·a-1）
>1 000 1 2 457.42 0 0 0 1 2 457.42 -0.025
（500，1 000] 4 2 985.60 3 2 125.73 0.101 1 859.87 -0.034
（100，500] 26 5 010.93 23 4 259.28 0.275 3 751.65 -0.375
（50，100] 17 1 162.70 10 684.72 0.699 7 477.98 0.049
（10，50） 100 2 464.14 68 1 727.11 0.817 32 737.03 -0.604
总计 148 14 080.78 104 8 796.84 0.373 44 5 283.94 -0.234
Tab.4  Trends in water levels of lakes of different sizes in the Eastern Plains lake area
Fig.10  Distribution of lake level trends in the Eastern Plains lake area
流域名称 湖泊数/个 上升面积/km2 平均上升率/（m·a-1） 下降面积/km2 平均下降率/（m·a-1）
长江中下游流域 60 4 935.227 0.303 9 3 569.893 -0.165 6
黄河中下游流域 6 310.559 0.801 9 44.734 -0.783 0
淮河流域 55 2 896.429 0.336 5 1 292.278 -0.077 7
海河流域 19 615.876 0.878 5 161.389 -0.319 4
珠江流域 7 38.750 0.315 7 197.237 -2.331 9
Tab.5  Trends in lake level changes in various basins in the Eastern Plains lake area
Fig.11  Distribution of lake level trends in the Northeast Plains and Mountains lake area
Fig.12  Changes in water levels of typical lakes from ICESat-2 data
Fig.13  -2 Changes in water surface of typical lakes from 2018 to 2022
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