Yamdrok Lake | |
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Coordinates | 28°56′N90°41′E / 28.933°N 90.683°E |
Basin countries | China |
Max. length | 72 km (45 mi) |
Surface area | 638 km2 (246 sq mi) |
Average depth | 30 m (98 ft) |
Max. depth | 60 m (200 ft) |
Surface elevation | 4,441 m (14,570 ft) |
Yamdrok Lake (also known as Yamdrok Yumtso or Yamzho Yumco; Tibetan : ཡར་འབྲོག་གཡུ་མཚོ་, Wylie : yar-'drog. G’yu-mtsho, ZYPY : Yamzhog Yumco; Chinese :羊卓雍錯; pinyin :Yángzhuó Yōngcuò, Yángzhuō Yōngcuò) is a freshwater lake in Tibet. It is one of the three largest lakes in Tibet. It is over 72 km (45 mi) long. The lake is surrounded by many snow-capped mountains and is fed by numerous small streams. The lake has an outlet stream, a tributary of Yarlung Tsangpo, at its far western end and means turquoise in English due to its color. [1]
Around 90 km (56 mi) to the west of the lake lies the Tibetan town of Gyantse and Lhasa is 100 km (62 mi) to the northeast. According to local mythology, Yamdok Yumtso lake is the transformation of a goddess.
The Yamdrok Hydropower Station was completed and dedicated in 1996 near the small village of Baidi at the lake's western end. This power station is the largest in Tibet. [2]
The lake (638 km2 (246 sq mi) in area, 30 metres (98 ft) average depth and 60 metres (200 ft) at its deepest) is fan-shaped, spreading to the south but narrowing up to the north. The mountainous lakeshore is highly crenellated, with numerous bays and inlets. Lake Yamdrok freezes in winter.
Yamdrok Lake has a cold steppe climate (BSk) with long, cold, very dry winters and short, cool, wet summers. It is also bordering on an alpine tundra climate (ET) and on a subarctic climate (Dwc). The differences between day and night are great.
Climate data for Yamdrok Lake | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 1.9 (35.4) | 3.4 (38.1) | 5.8 (42.4) | 9.5 (49.1) | 13.1 (55.6) | 16.6 (61.9) | 16.1 (61.0) | 15.2 (59.4) | 13.9 (57.0) | 10.2 (50.4) | 6.1 (43.0) | 3.3 (37.9) | 9.6 (49.3) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | −7.4 (18.7) | −5.2 (22.6) | −2.0 (28.4) | 2.1 (35.8) | 6.2 (43.2) | 10.3 (50.5) | 10.6 (51.1) | 9.8 (49.6) | 8.1 (46.6) | 2.8 (37.0) | −2.6 (27.3) | −6.0 (21.2) | 2.2 (36.0) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −16.7 (1.9) | −13.8 (7.2) | −9.8 (14.4) | −5.2 (22.6) | −0.7 (30.7) | 4.0 (39.2) | 5.1 (41.2) | 4.5 (40.1) | 2.3 (36.1) | −4.6 (23.7) | −11.3 (11.7) | −15.3 (4.5) | −5.1 (22.8) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 2 (0.1) | 4 (0.2) | 12 (0.5) | 39 (1.5) | 82 (3.2) | 83 (3.3) | 37 (1.5) | 7 (0.3) | 1 (0.0) | 0 (0) | 267 (10.6) |
Source: Climate-Data.org |
Like mountains, lakes are considered sacred by Tibetan people, the principle being that they are the dwelling places of protective deities and therefore invested with special spiritual powers. Yamdrok Lake is one of four particularly holy lakes, thought to be divinatory; everyone from the Dalai Lama to local villagers makes pilgrimages there. It is considered sacred as one of the four "Great Wrathful Lakes" guarded by the goddess Dorje Gegkyi Tso. [2] The others such lakes are Lhamo La-tso, Namtso and Manasarovar. The lake is revered as a talisman and is said to be part of the life-spirit of Tibet. The largest lake in southern Tibet, it is said that if its waters dry, Tibet will no longer be habitable.
The lake, its islands, and the surrounding area are closely associated with Padmasambhava, the Second Buddha, who brought Buddhism to Tibet in eighth century AD. [2] The lake is home to the famous Samding Monastery which is on a peninsula jutting into the lake. This monastery is the only Tibetan monastery to be headed by a female re-incarnation. Since it is not a nunnery, its abbess heads a community of about thirty monks and nuns. Samding Monastery is where Samding Dorje Phagmo, the most important female incarnate Lama in Tibet, stayed and presided, and stands to the south of Lake Yamdrok Yumtso. [4]
Today, both pilgrims and tourists can be seen walking along the lake's perimeter. One of the lake's islands contains an old fort or castle called Pede Dzong.
There are shoals of fish living in Yamdrok Lake, which are commercially exploited by local population. From April to October, fish caught from this lake are sold at markets in Lhasa, Tibet's capital.
Additionally, the lake's islands serve as rich pasture land to local herdsmen.
Tibet, or Greater Tibet, is a region in the central part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi). It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as the Monpa, Tamang, Qiang, Sherpa and Lhoba peoples and, since the 20th century, considerable numbers of Han Chinese and Hui settlers. Since the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China in 1951, the entire plateau has been under the administration of the People's Republic of China. Tibet is divided administratively into the Tibet Autonomous Region, and parts of the Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. Tibet is also constitutionally claimed by the Republic of China as the Tibet Area since 1912. Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an average elevation of 4,380 m (14,000 ft). Located in the Himalayas, the highest elevation in Tibet is Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain, rising 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft) above sea level.
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Shannan, also known as Lhoka, is a prefecture-level city in the southeastern Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Shannan includes Gonggar County within its jurisdiction with Gongkar Chö Monastery, Gonggar Dzong, and Gonggar Airport all located near Gonggar town.
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Kyirong or Gyirong County, also known by its Chinese name Jilong, is a county of the Shigatse Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is famous for its mild climatically conditions and its abundant vegetation which is unusual for the Tibetan plateau. The capital lies at Zongga (Gungthang). Its name in Tibetan, Dzongka, means "mud walls".
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Samding Monastery "The Temple of Soaring Meditation" is a gompa built on a hill on a peninsula jutting into Yamdrok Lake about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of Nangkatse. It is located 112 kilometres (70 mi) southwest of Lhasa, at an altitude of 4,423 metres (14,511 ft), on a barren hill about 90 metres (300 ft) above the lake at the neck of a narrow peninsula jutting out into the water. It is associated with the Bodong and Shangpa Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
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The Samding Dorje Phagmo is the highest female incarnation in Tibet and the third highest-ranking person in the hierarchy after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. She was listed among the highest-ranking reincarnations at the time of the 5th Dalai Lama, recognized by the Tibetan government and acknowledged by the emperors of Qing China. In her first incarnation, as Chökyi Drönma, she was the student and consort of the famous polymath Thang Tong Gyalpo, who first identified her as an emanation of Vajravārāhī, and the consort of Bodong Panchen. The seat of the Samding Dorje Phagmo is at Samding Monastery, in Tibet.
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The Yamdrok Hydropower Station, also known as the Yamdrok Yumtso or Yamzhog Yumcog hydropower station, is a hydroelectric power station just north of Yamdrok Lake, about 16 km (9.9 mi) southwest of Qüxü. The power station is in the Lhoka (Shannan) Prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Opposition to using the lake, considered holy, delayed construction at first. The project ran into difficulties and was two years late, completed in 1998.
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