| Lake Pelku | |
|---|---|
 From space, May 1997. North is down. | |
  Lake Pelku | |
| Location | Tibet Autonomous Region Shigatse Prefecture Gyirong County and Nyalam County |
| Coordinates | 28°55′N 85°35′E / 28.917°N 85.583°E / 28.917; 85.583 |
| Type | brackish |
| Primary outflows | None (endorheic). |
| Max. length | 27 km (17 mi) |
| Surface elevation | 4,591 m (15,070 ft) |
Lake Pelku (Tibetan: དཔལ་ཁུད་མཚོ, Wylie: dpal khud mtsho, THL: pel khü tso), Pelkhu, or Paiku (Chinese: 佩枯错; pinyin: pèigǔ cuò) is a lake at 4,591 meters (15,062 ft) elevation on the Tibetan Plateau in Shigatse Prefecture. It is 18 kilometers (11 mi) south of the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) River, bordering Saga County, Gyirong County, and Nyalam County.
The lake is 27 kilometers (17 mi) long and 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) wide at its narrowest. It is surrounded by mountains reaching 5,700 to 6,000 meters (18,700 to 19,700 ft). Streams fed by glaciers cascade to the valley floor, but most sink into alluvial deposits before reaching the lake.
The surrounding catchment is an endorheic basin with no outlet. It would overflow into the Yarlung Tsangpo with a water level about 100 meters (330 ft) higher. The lake's brackish water is evidence that it has not overflowed in hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
Climate
| Climate data for Lake Pelku | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −0.2 (31.6) |
0.6 (33.1) |
3.6 (38.5) |
7.6 (45.7) |
10.7 (51.3) |
13.6 (56.5) |
12.8 (55.0) |
12.3 (54.1) |
11.2 (52.2) |
7.9 (46.2) |
3.3 (37.9) |
1.4 (34.5) |
7.1 (44.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −8.1 (17.4) |
−7.0 (19.4) |
−3.6 (25.5) |
0.0 (32.0) |
3.3 (37.9) |
7.1 (44.8) |
7.7 (45.9) |
7.3 (45.1) |
5.5 (41.9) |
0.8 (33.4) |
−4.2 (24.4) |
−6.5 (20.3) |
0.2 (32.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −15.9 (3.4) |
−14.6 (5.7) |
−10.8 (12.6) |
−7.5 (18.5) |
−4.0 (24.8) |
0.6 (33.1) |
2.7 (36.9) |
2.3 (36.1) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
−6.2 (20.8) |
−11.7 (10.9) |
−14.3 (6.3) |
−6.6 (20.1) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 12 (0.5) |
9 (0.4) |
13 (0.5) |
10 (0.4) |
7 (0.3) |
25 (1.0) |
81 (3.2) |
86 (3.4) |
34 (1.3) |
16 (0.6) |
1 (0.0) |
4 (0.2) |
298 (11.8) |
| Source: Climate-Data.org | |||||||||||||
Notes
- KNAB database lists an alternative form of the Tibean name: Tibetan: པད་ཁུད་མཚོ, Wylie: pad khud mtsho, THL: pé khü tso. Alternative English spellings are: Peiku, Pelgu, Palgu etc.
References
- Chan 1994, p. 925.
- Tibetan Studies, Volume 256, Part 1, IATS, 1997. p.269
- Dorje 2004, p. 326.
- "Geographical names of Tibet AR (China): Xigazê Prefecture-Level City". KNAB Place Name Database. Institute of the Estonian Language. 2018-06-03.
Bibliography
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Chan, Victor (1994), Tibet Handbook, Moon Publications – via archive.org
- Dorje, Gyurme (2004), Footprint Tibet Handbook with Bhutan (3rd ed.), Bath: Footprint Handbooks, ISBN 1-903471-30-3 – via archive.org
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