Qaidam

The Qaidam is a graben, or sunken valley, that lies between the Altun Mountains to the north (highest peaks exceed 6,000 meters (m)) and the Kunlun Mountains to the south (highest peaks exceed 7,000 m).

Qaidam Basin semi-desert 2008

It exceeds 1,000 mm to the south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River; is between 400 and 800 mm in the Huaihe River basin, in the northern plains, northeast and central China, is less than 400 mm in parts of northeast China and most of the hinterland in the northwest; and is less than 25 mm in the Tarim and the Qaidam basins.

Water profile of China 2008

Because the basin has no outlet to the sea, water that flows into the basin from surrounding mountains can only evaporate, creating saline soil conditions (Qaidam is the Mongolian word for salt).

Qaidam Basin semi-desert 2008

The Qaidam lies north of numerous other mountain ranges that it is almost completely cut off from the South Asian monsoon that brings large amounts of precipitation to much of the Tibetan Plateau.

Qaidam Basin semi-desert 2008

The Qaidam region, which is in the Qilan Shan Mountains of Dulan, is a desert.

A Project for the Dendro Truth Squad « Climate Audit 2007

Now there is much else to be said about the original Wang et al 1983 series, which turns out to be based only three cores from south-facing sites north of the Qaidam depression – with one of the cores being taken about 150 km away from the other two.

A Reply to an Angry Dendroclimatologist « Climate Audit 2007

In his page on the Qaidam lake, he oberved camels, near Tsaka Chaka lake.

Dulan Junipers and the Silk Road « Climate Audit 2007

Here is a description of the Qaidam desert which contains the following picture:

Dulan Junipers and the Silk Road « Climate Audit 2007

The Qaidam Desert is a high basin surrounded by mountains where cold temperatures and lack of water limit vegetative growth.

A Project for the Dendro Truth Squad « Climate Audit 2007

The installed power-generating capacity of the first phase of Qaidam solar power station came to 30 MW and the total long-term objective of the project came up to 1GW.

News 2009