This study quantifies the evaporative water loss from 1.42 million global lakes (natural and artificial) from 1985 to 2018 using satellite observations and modeling. The long-term average lake evaporation is 1500 ± 150 km³ year⁻¹, increasing at a rate of 3.12 km³ year⁻¹. The increase is attributed to an increasing evaporation rate (58%), decreasing lake ice coverage (23%), and increasing lake surface area (19%). Artificial lakes contribute 16% to the total evaporation volume despite accounting for only 5% of global lake storage capacity. The study emphasizes the importance of using evaporation volume, not rate, to assess climatic impacts on lake systems.

Gang Zhao, Yao Li, Liming Zhou, Huilin Gao