An investigation of enhanced recessions in Poyang Lake: Comparison of Yangtze River and local catchment impacts

JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY

卷:517

Article

Zhang, Qi¹  Ye, Xu-chun²  Werner, Adrian D.³  Li, Yun-liang¹  Yao, Jing¹  Li, Xiang-hu¹  Xu, Chong-yu⁴ 

[1] Chinese Acad Sci, Nanjing Inst Geog & Limnol, State Key Lab Lake Sci & Environm, Nanjing 210008, Jiangsu, Peoples R China

[2] Southwest Univ, Sch Geog Sci, Chongqing 400715, Peoples R China

[3] Flinders Univ S Australia, Sch Environm, Natl Ctr Groundwater Res & Training, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia

[4] Univ Oslo, Dept Geosci, N-0316 Oslo, Norway

关键词: Water level;    Mann-Kendall test;    Hydrodynamic model;    Poyang Lake;    Yangtze River;    Lake-river interaction;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.05.051

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Changes in lake hydrological regimes and the associated impacts on water supplies and ecosystems are internationally recognized issues. During the past decade, the persistent dryness of Poyang Lake (the largest freshwater lake in China) has caused water supply and irrigation crises for the 12.4 million inhabitants of the region. There is conjecture as to whether this dryness is caused by climate variability and/or human activities. This study examines long-term datasets of catchment inflow and Lake outflow, and employs a physically-based hydrodynamic model to explore catchment and Yangtze River controls on the Lake's hydrology. Lake water levels fell to their lowest during 2001-2010 relative to previous decades. The average Lake size and volume reduced by 154 km(2) and 11 x 10(8) m(3) during the same period, compared to those for the preceding period (1970-2000). Model simulations demonstrated that the drainage effect of the Yangtze River was the primary causal factor. Modeling also revealed that, compared to climate variability impacts on the Lake catchment, modifications to Yangtze River flows from the Three Gorges Dam have had a much greater impact on the seasonal (September-October) dryness of the Lake. Yangtze River effects are attenuated in the Lake with distance from the River, but nonetheless propagate some 100 km to the lake's upstream limit. Proposals to build additional dams in the upper Yangtze River and its tributaries are expected to impose significant challenges for the management of Poyang Lake. Hydraulic engineering to modify the flow regime between the Lake and the Yangtze River would somewhat resolve the seasonal dryness of the Lake, but will likely introduce other issues in terms of water quality and aquatic ecosystem health, requiring considerable further research. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

【 授权许可】

Free