High carbon emissions from thermokarst lakes and their determinants in the Tibet Plateau

Thermokarst lake development significantly affects hydrologic systems, infrastructure stability, and greenhouse gas emissions. However,  the spatial and temporal changes, carbon emissions patterns, and motivators in thermokarst lakes remain largely unknown. In this study, we created a thermokarst lake dataset on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) using a threshold-based mapping method based on Google Earth Engine (GEE) data associated with visual inspection. In addition, we measured CH4 and CO2 diffusive fluxes in 163 thermokarst lakes in the QTP over 3 years from May to October. Our results showed that thermokarst lakes on the QTP permafrost region covered a total area of 1572 ± 184 km2, with most of the thermokarst lakes