Impacts of multi-purpose reservoir construction, land-use change and climate change on runoff characteristics in the Poyang Lake basin, China

Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies

Jingqiao Mao¹  Steve W. Lyon²  Jerker Jarsjö³  Diandian Xu⁴  Huichao Dai⁵ 

[1] Corresponding author at: College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China.;Department of Physical Geography, and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, SE 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden;School of Environment and Natural Resources, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA;College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China;Department of Physical Geography, and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, SE 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden;

关键词: Climate change;    Land-use change;    Multi-purpose reservoir operation;    Runoff coefficient;    Evapotranspiration;    Poyang Lake basin;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Study region: The Poyang Lake basin at the Yangtze River, China. Study focus: Impacts of multi-purpose reservoirs on runoff are investigated through the lens of spatio-temporal shifts in runoff coefficients (RC) before and after reservoir construction. We furthermore use evapotranspiration (ET) modelling to interpret possible additional impacts of climate change and other ambient changes since the 1950s within the Poyang Lake basin, comprising one of China’s most important freshwater resources.New Hydrological Insights for the Region: Results show that annual average RC and ET remain essentially unchanged despite reservoir constructions and irrigation development. We show that simultaneous, basin-wide implementation of lake-to-land transitions (including wetland drainage) has had a dampening effect on ET, contributing to unexpectedly weak ET trends. Our model furthermore shows that the observed (modest) ET increases since the 1950s can be fully attributed to the warmer climate in the region. Furthermore, the intra-annual distribution of the monthly RC used to be almost identical in all sub-basins during the pre-dam period. We show that the different operation schedules of multi-purpose reservoirs, which reflect location-specific differences in water need over the year, have resulted in pronounced temporal differences in sub-basin runoff characteristics (including RC-values). The present analysis contributes to process understanding, relevant for water management decisions in the Poyang Lake basin and other major multi-purpose dam regions across the world.

【 授权许可】

Unknown