Da Qaidam is a county-level administrative zone in Haixi Prefecture in northwestern Qinghai province, China.

[2] Da Qaidam borders Delingha to the east, Lenghu to the west, Golmud across the Qarhan Playa to the south, and Jiuquan (Gansu) to the north, and is part of the northern Qaidam Basin.

Similar to neighbouring Golmud, Da Qaidam has an arid climate (Köppen BWk), with long, cold winters, and warm summers, although due to its location further north and elevation more than 350 metres (1,150 ft) higher than Golmud, its climate is also subalpine in nature.

The monthly 24-hour average temperature drops to −13.4 °C (7.9 °F) in January and rises to 15.5 °C (60 °F) in July, while the annual mean is 1.88 °C (35.4 °F).

Precipitation is very low, totaling only 83 mm (3.27 in) per annum, falling on 35 days, most of which are during the summer.