Abstract
Lake Balkhash is the third largest inland lake in Central Asia after the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea. The Ili River-Balkash Lake Basin resides in the southeastern part of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the western part of China’s Ili Prefecture, which belongs to the arid and semi-arid region. In the middle to late 20th century, the Ili River-Balkash Lake Basin was affected by climate change and human activities, and the problems of water ecology and water resources became increasingly prominent, which became the focus of attention for China and Kazakhstan. In this study, the water level derived from radar altimeter data, the water surface area extracted from Landsat data, and the temperature and precipitation data in the basin were comprehensively utilised. Data analysis of the time course and correlation of hydrological, meteorological elements in the lake basin, water dynamic changes, and influencing factors of Lake Balkhash was studied. The results show that the cyclical change of regional climate is the main factor affecting the change of lake water, and human activities in the short term can regulate the change of water volume in Lake Balkhash. The research results in this paper can provide a scientific basis for the solution of water disputes in cross-border rivers between China and Kazakhstan.
