scholarly journals Impact of the Three Gorges Dam on the Hydrology and Ecology of the Yangtze River

Water ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Zhang ◽  
Zengchuan Dong ◽  
Hoshin Gupta ◽  
Guangdong Wu ◽  
Dayong Li
Keyword(s):  
Yangtze River ◽  
Three Gorges Dam ◽  
Three Gorges ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
The Three Gorges ◽  
The Three Gorges Dam

scholarly journals Response of vegetation to submergence along Jingjiang Reach of the Yangtze River

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. e0251015
Author(s):  
Guoliang Zhu ◽  
Yitian Li ◽  
Zhaohua Sun ◽  
Shinjiro Kanae
Keyword(s):  
Yangtze River ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Three Gorges Dam ◽  
Vegetation Coverage ◽  
Three Gorges ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
The Three Gorges ◽  
The Three Gorges Dam

This work explores the changes in vegetation coverage and submergence time of floodplains along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (i.e., the Jingjiang River) and the relations between them. As the Three Gorges Dam has been operating for more than 10 years, the original vegetative environment has been greatly altered in this region. The two main aspects of these changes were discovered by analyzing year-end image data from remote sensing satellites using a dimidiate pixel model, based on the normalized difference vegetation index, and by calculating water level and topographic data over a distance of 360 km from 2003–2015. Given that the channels had adjusted laterally, thus exhibiting deeper and broader geometries due to the Three Gorges Dam, 11 floodplains were classified into three groups with distinctive features. The evidence shows that, the floodplains with high elevation have formed steady vegetation areas and could hardly be affected by runoff and usually occupied by humans. The low elevation group has not met the minimal threshold of submerging time for vegetation growth, and no plants were observed so far. Based on the facts summed up from the floodplains with variable elevation, days needed to spot vegetation ranges from 70 to 120 days which happened typically near 2006 and between 2008 and 2010, respectively, and a negative correlation was detected between submergence time and vegetation coverage within a certain range. Thus, floods optimized by the Three Gorges Dam have directly influenced plant growth in the floodplains and may also affect our ability to manage certain types of large floods. Our conclusions may provide a basis for establishing flood criteria to manage the floodplain vegetation and evaluating possible increases in resistance caused by high-flow flooding when these floodplains are submerged.

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

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 705-717
Author(s):  
Zhenkuan Su ◽  
Michelle Ho ◽  
Zhenchun Hao ◽  
Upmanu Lall ◽  
Xun Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
Yangtze River Basin ◽  
Three Gorges Dam ◽  
Three Gorges ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
The Three Gorges ◽  
The Yangtze River Basin ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Three Gorges Dam
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