Abstract:Zige Tangco (32°00'-32°09'N, 90°44'-90°57'E, 4560a.s.l.), located in Central Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, is an endo rheic saline lake.As no instrumental data were available in the basin, three nearby stations, i. e. Amdo, Naqu and Bangoin, were selected for lake evaporation estimates in Zige Tangco.Meteorological observations from three above-mentioned stations as well as radiation data from Naqu were used for Penman equations approach.During 1958-1998, a yearly-mean lake evapo ration of 925.1mm was calculated, ranging from 791.9mm (in 1983) to a maximum 1111.5mm (in 1975).Further 5-year running average resuls revealed that 2 high-level stages and 1 low-level stage were dominant in the past 40 years, and an ascending trend was obvious, though fluctuating.