A43G-0394
IMPACTS OF THE THREE GORGES PROJECT ON LOCAL CLIMATE
Thursday, 17 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Zhen Song, BNU Beijing Normal University, State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, School of Geography, Beijing, China; University of Maryland College Park, Department of Geographical Sciences, College Park, MD, United States, Shunlin Liang, Beijing Normal University, State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, School of Geography, Beijing, China; University of Maryland, Department of Geographical Sciences, College Park, MD, United States and Lian Feng, Wuhan University, State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan, China
Abstract:
Three Gorges Project (TGP) is the largest hydroelectric project in the world and has led to significant land cover changes in Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA). Since its construction the debates on its environmental and climatic impacts have never stopped, especially after the extreme drought and flood in Yangtze River Basin these years. TGP reached its final impounding water level in 2010. However, studies on systematically monitoring the long-term variations in surface and atmospheric parameters in TGRA are still lacking. In this study, three important surface parameters – surface albedo, land surface temperature (LST) and evapotranspiration (ET) and two climatic parameters – air temperature and precipitation were investigated from 2000 to 2013 by combining multiple remote sensing data and ground measurements. Results showed that along the reservoir albedo decreased significantly as a result of water impounding. Correspondingly, in the same region daytime LST decreased in spring and summer and nighttime LST increased in autumn and winter. In the western region of TGRA, albedo increased due to resettlement and LST also changed. The average ET increased by 20% in TGR but kept stable in the whole TGRA. In contrast to LST, air temperature showed less apparent spatial and temporal variability. Only in the region near the dam air temperature experienced a decrease at daytime and an increase at nighttime. Further analysis demonstrated precipitation revealed no apparent changes in TGRA and the precipitation anomaly in northwest of TGRA may not be connected with TGP. All of the findings provide a more substantial clues of local climate change caused by TGP.
