
Updated: 02-02-2025
Source: China Meteorological News Press
Wetlands are ecosystems of prime importance to biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, freshwater availability, global economic development and others.
"Protecting Wetlands for Our Common Future" is the theme for World Wetlands Day 2025.
This anniversary is an ideal occasion to deepen people's understanding of these ecosystems and reinforce their awareness of conserving them.
Wetland, forest and ocean are called three major ecosystems of the earth which is closely bound up with human existence, reproduction and developing.
Wetland possesses important ecological functions such as water conservation, water purification, flood storage, soil erosion control, groundwater replenishment, environment beautification, climate regulation, carbon cycle conservation and coastal protection. It is one of the crucial birthplaces of biodiversity.
Poyang Lake Source: Hukou County Converged Media Center
Against the backdrop of global climate change, extreme weather events are occurring frequently, lake water temperature is on the rise, the evaporation is mounting, and the ecological service functions of lakes worldwide are under severe threat. Poyang Lake in Jiangxi, one of China's largest freshwater lakes, has not been spared.
In the second half of 2022, under the influence of sustained high temperature and low rainfall, the area of Poyang Lake shrank by more than 80%, which also experienced precipitous decline in water ecological environment. This phenomenon has garnered wide attention from the global ecological community.
In the same year, Poyang Lake set a record for the earliest dry period since records were registered in 1951, and rare phenomena such as "return to low discharge during the flood season" and "exceptional low discharge during the dry season" have shed light on the tremendous impact of climate change on the lake ecosystem.
This situation has not only triggered in-depth exchanges on ecological protection in China, but also provided a typical case for global research on the impact of climate change on lake ecology on a global scale.
Confronted with the challenges of climate change, it is imperative to reinforce lake treatment, make up for ecological weaknesses, strengthen the conservation and management of the ecological environment, and boost the meteorological support capacity for the ecosystem protection.
The unique natural geographical characteristics of Poyang Lake has contributed to its rare natural wetland landscape,with rivers and lakes interspersed. Its distinctive lake wetland ecosystem covers an area of nearly 3130 km², accounting for about 80% of the total area of Poyang Lake. Its ecosystem is not only of crucial scientific value, but also plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle.
Poyang Lake Source: Hukou County Converged Media Center
The advantageous hydrothermal conditions have endowed the vegetation of Poyang Lake wetland with immense potential for carbon sequestration, and it is an important sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide. In the meanwhile, the ecosystem of the waters of Poyang Lake has marked differences in carbon source and sink functions under different water levels, abundance and depletion scenarios, influenced by exogenous input in the basin and biochemical cycle process in the lake body, which provides plentiful research materials for the study of global lake carbon cycle.
Poyang Lake Source: Hukou County Converged Media Center
It is informed that since the 1990s, Jiangxi Provincial Meteorological Service has carried out satellite remote sensing monitoring for the water body area of Poyang Lake wetland. In 2024, monitoring of its water area has been conducted 28 times.
Monitoring image of the water body change in the main body of Poyang Lake in June, 2024 Credits to Jiangxi Provincial Meteorological Service
In 2022, the Service established a comprehensive observing system for carbon flux in Poyang Lake wetland, and is currently conducting research on the impact of changes in meteorological conditions on Poyang Lake's carbon sequestration capacity. This study is not only of great significance for gaining insight into the carbon cycle mechanism of Poyang Lake ecosystem, but also provides valuable scientific basis for the global lake ecosystem to respond to climate change.
Comprehensive observing system for carbon flux in Poyang Lake wetland Credits to Jiangxi Provincial Meteorological Service
A series of monitoring have provided important data support for the study of dynamic changes in the Poyang Lake ecosystem, and captured the attention of more research institutions and scholars to the Poyang Lake ecosystem.
In collaboration with Jiangxi Provincial Meteorological Service
Special thanks to FU Yunjie
Editor: LIU Shuqiao