Changes in monthly flows in the Yangtze River, China – With special reference to the Three Gorges Dam

Chen, Jing; Finlayson, Brian; Wei, Taoyuan; Sun, Qianli; Webber, Michael; Li, Maotian; Chen, Zhongyuan

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.03.008

Cited by 108 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In addition, the melting water from snow or permafrost may have contributed greatly to the tributaries and mainstream because of high temperatures in the wet season, especially in the upper reaches. The average temperature in the upper reaches ranged from 18.1°C to 22.4°C between May and September (J. Chen et al, ), and the contribution of melting water during the wet season was high (Ding et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the catchment is controlled by the subtropical monsoon climate. The monthly mean temperature, precipitation amount, and discharge, and the whole catchment exhibit significant seasonal variations in the upper, middle to lower reaches (J. Chen et al, ). The annual average precipitation and temperature are about 1,057 mm and 15.2 °C, respectively.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial and temporal patterns of stable water isotopes along the Yangtze River during two drought years

Song

et al. 2017

Hydrological Processes

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Changes in the level of the Yangtze River caused by anthropogenic water regulation have major effects on the hydrological processes and water cycle in surrounding lakes and rivers. In this study, we obtained isotopic evidence of changes in the water cycle of Yangtze River during the two drought years of 2006 and 2013. Isotopic evidence demonstrated that the δ18O and δD levels in Yangtze River exhibited high spatial heterogeneity from the upper to lower reaches, which were controlled by atmospheric precipitation, tributary/lake water mixing, damming regulation, and water temperature. Both the slope and intercept of Yangtze River evaporative line (δD = 7.88 δ18O + 7.96) were slightly higher than those of local meteoric water line of Yangtze River catchment (δD = 7.41 δ18O + 6.01). Most of the river isotopic values were located below the local meteoric water line, thereby implying that the Yangtze River water experienced a certain degree of evaporative enrichment on isotopic compositions of river water. The high fluctuations in the isotopic composition (e.g., deuterium excess [d‐excess]) in the middle to lower reaches during the initial stage of operation for the Three Gorges Dams (2003–2006) were due to heterogeneous isotopic signatures from the upstream water. In contrast to the normal stage (after 2010) characterized by the maximum water level and largest water storage, a relatively small variability in the deuterium excess was found along the middle to lower reaches because of the homogenization of reservoir water with a longer residence time and complete mixing. The effects of water from lakes and tributaries on the isotopic compositions in mainstream water were highlighted because of the high contributions of lakes water (e.g., Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake) efflux to the Yangtze River mainstream, which ranged from 21% to 85% during 2006 and 2013. These findings suggest that the retention and regulation of the Three Gorges Dams has greatly buffered the isotopic variability of the water cycle in the Yangtze catchment, thereby improving our understanding of the complex lake–river interactions along the middle to lower reaches in the future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal patterns of stable water isotopes along the Yangtze River during two drought years

Song

et al. 2017

Hydrological Processes

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“…and the inability to attenuate flows generated by runoff in the higher precipitation regions of the lower basin. Such future endeavours are needed to build on past studies such asChen et al (2016) The dam did not consistently mitigate the occurrence of either high-or low-flow events at the four locations considered.…”

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confidence: 99%

The impact of the Three Gorges Dam on summer streamflow in the Yangtze River Basin

Hao

et al. 2019

Hydrological Processes

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The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest capacity hydropower station located in the Hubei province along the Yangtze River in China, which began operations in 2003. The dam also functions to store and regulate the downstream releases of water in order to provide flood control and navigational support in addition to hydropower generation. Flow regulation is particularly important for alleviating the impacts of low-and high-flow events during the summer rainy season (June, July, and August). The impact of dam operations on summer flows is the focus of this work. Naturalized flows are modelled using a canonical correlation analysis and covariates of subbasin-scale precipitation resulting in good model skill with an average correlation of 0.92. The model is then used to estimate natural flows in the period after dam operation. A comparison between modelled and gauged streamflow post 2003 is made and the impact of the dam on downstream flow is assessed. Streamflow variability is found to be strongly related to rainfall variability. An analysis of regional streamflow variability across the Yangtze River Basin showed a mode of spatially negatively correlated variability between the upper and lower basin areas. The Three Gorges Dam likely mitigated the occurrence of high-flow events at Yichang station located near the dam. However, the high flow at the remaining stations in the lower reach is not noticeably alleviated due to the diminishing influence of the dam on distant downstream flows and the impact of the lakes downstream of the dam that act to attenuate flows. Three types of flow regime changes between naturalized and observed flows were defined and used to assess the changes in the occurrence of high-and low-flow events resulting from dam operations. K E Y W O R D S canonical correlation analysis, high flow, low flow, Three Gorges Dam

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“…Along the reach of interest, hydrological stations are located at the Yichang, Zhicheng, Shashi, Jianli, Luoshan, Hankou, and Datong (Figure b); a comparison of records from 2003 to 2014, and 1980–2002 revealed that the runoff volumes at these hydrological stations decreased by 8.16, 9.25, 6.86, 5.40, 9.11, 7.47, and 9.71%, respectively (Figure c), whereas the sediment discharges declined by 90.58, 89.22, 84.48, 79.42, 76.09, 69.71, and 62.66%, respectively (Figure d). Previous research has shown that the reduction in run‐off was caused by climate change and that the impact of the TGR was comparatively minor (Chen et al, ; Yang et al, ), but the decreases in sediment discharges were due to construction of the reservoir (Yang et al, ). After operation of the TGR began, sediment discharge gradually recovered, and the reduction in discharge decreased farther downstream.…”

Section: Background and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The TGR has adopted a "peak clipping and low flow supplement" strategy (Hu & Fang, 2017;Mei, Dai, Gelder, & Gao, 2015;Zheng, 2016) to decrease discharges during storm seasons and increase discharges during drought seasons (Lai et al, 2017;Wang, Sheng, Gleason, & Wada, 2013). This strategy aims to minimize impacts on the total run-off (Chen et al, 2016). In addition, the reservoir intercepts a large amount of sediment from upstream, leading to a dramatic decrease in the transported load downstream (Dai & Lu, 2014;Yang, Xu, Milliman, Yang, & Wu, 2015;Dai, Fagherazzi, Mei, & Gao, 2016;Zhou, Xia, Lu, Deng, & Lin, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the operation of a large‐scale reservoir on downstream river channel geomorphic adjustments: A case study of the Three Gorges

Yang

Zhang

Zhu

et al. 2018

River Research & Apps

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To evaluate the effects of reservoir construction on the geomorphology of downstream reaches, a case study is performed on the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) by comparing data collected before and after impoundment of the reservoir. This study focuses on a 1,183‐km‐long reach downstream from the TGR and investigates the temporal and spatial characteristics and patterns of geomorphic adjustment in the downstream reaches. The amount of erosion in flood plain channels and the annual average intensity of erosion in downstream reaches after 12 years of impoundment are larger than the predicted values before the impoundment of the TGR. The maximum intensity of erosion was found at 410 km from the dam, with an average thalweg incision of 1.5 m, and the main zone of erosion migrated approximately 80 km downstream. At both preimpoundment and postimpoundment, erosion occurred the along beaches and channels in the Yichang–Chenglingji reach. The pattern of erosional channels and depositional river floodplain changed to erosional channels and erosional river floodplain in the Chenglingji–Hankou reach after the trial impoundment stage. In the Hankou–Hukou reach, the erosional channels and depositional river floodplain pattern changed to erosional deep channels, erosional low beaches, and depositional high‐river floodplain during the early impoundment stage. After the trial impoundment stage, erosion continued in the deep channels, but minor deposition occurred on the river floodplain. Moreover, the discharge of clear water increased, and the duration from middle to low‐water levels increased, leading to more concentrated erosion in low‐water channels. The intensity of the erosion along the river floodplain decreased due to the shortened duration of high‐water levels and reduced human activity.

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Changes in monthly flows in the Yangtze River, China – With special reference to the Three Gorges Dam

Cited by 108 publications

References 24 publications

Spatial and temporal patterns of stable water isotopes along the Yangtze River during two drought years

Spatial and temporal patterns of stable water isotopes along the Yangtze River during two drought years

The impact of the Three Gorges Dam on summer streamflow in the Yangtze River Basin

Impact of the operation of a large‐scale reservoir on downstream river channel geomorphic adjustments: A case study of the Three Gorges

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