Dynamic Changes of the Alpine Wetlands in Tibet, China

Based on the field investigation and long term remote sensing data, the dynamic changes of the alpine wetland in Tibet were studied. Results showed the alpine wetlands accounted for 13.99% of total wetlands in China in 2010. The area of lakes were 31653.16 km
²
, accounting for 58.79 % of total wetlands in Tibet. Lakes were mostly located in Northern Tibet, accounting for 93.37% of the total lakes in Tibet. The variation in lake shape is also significant in Northern Tibet. Lake appeared an increasing trend in the past 20 years, with an increase of 35.3 %. However, river and swamp exhibited a tendency of decreasing with 833.49km
²
and 2761.30 km
²
. The degraded swamp wetlands mainly distributed in Northern Tibet, representing 95.2% of the total reduced area. There existed 12.43% of reduced swamp converted into lakes or rivers on the basis of remote sensing image interpretation.