Articles | Volume 20, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2851-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2851-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
21 May 2026
Research article |
| 21 May 2026
| 21 May 2026
Enhancing lake identification in Alpine periglacial environments by leveraging the global context of transformers
Jinhao Xu
National Tibetan Plateau Data Center, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Min Feng
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
National Tibetan Plateau Data Center, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Yijie Sui
National Tibetan Plateau Data Center, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Yanan Su
National Tibetan Plateau Data Center, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xuefei Zhang
Land Satellite Remote Sensing Application Center, Ministry of Natural Resources, Beijing 100048, China
Qinglin Wu
National Tibetan Plateau Data Center, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Zhimin Hu
National Tibetan Plateau Data Center, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
College of Geography and Tourism, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing 401331, China
Ruilin Wang
National Tibetan Plateau Data Center, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
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Short summary
Lakes in alpine periglacial environments are expanding rapidly under climate warming, but their detection and classification remain difficult because of complex terrain and spectral interference. We developed a vision-transformer-based framework to delineate lake boundaries and distinguish contemporary glacial lakes from other lakes. Applied to the southeastern Tibetan Plateau, it identified 3,266 lakes, including many as small as 0.0001 km².
Lakes in alpine periglacial environments are expanding rapidly under climate...
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