Has the Three Gorges Reservoir Impacted Regional Moisture Recycling?
Abstract The Three Gorges Dam (TGD) and its impoundment significantly alter natural river properties and local land cover, drawing considerable concerns regarding its climatic and environmental effects. However, with the role of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) in narrowing temperature ranges and ch...
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Wiley
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Water Resources Research |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR038208 |
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| author | Jia Wei Weiguang Wang Mingzhu Cao Jianyun Zhang Junliang Jin Guoqing Wang Hongbin Li Xiaolong Pan Zongchao Ye Adriaan J. Teuling Shuo Wang |
| author_facet | Jia Wei Weiguang Wang Mingzhu Cao Jianyun Zhang Junliang Jin Guoqing Wang Hongbin Li Xiaolong Pan Zongchao Ye Adriaan J. Teuling Shuo Wang |
| author_sort | Jia Wei |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The Three Gorges Dam (TGD) and its impoundment significantly alter natural river properties and local land cover, drawing considerable concerns regarding its climatic and environmental effects. However, with the role of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) in narrowing temperature ranges and changing precipitation patterns is well understood, its impact on moisture recycling is little known. Here, we tracked precipitation in the TGR basin back to evaporated moisture to explore the features of moisture recycling and quantify local evaporation ratios in the pre‐dam (1980–2002) and post‐dam (2003–2022) periods. The influences of the forcing data, simulation time steps and different tracking models on evaporation recycling are investigated. Relevant mechanisms are analyzed in terms of atmospheric motion, surface radiation, land cover changes and climate variability impacts. Results indicate that the precipitationshed shows a reduction in both summer and winter during the post‐dam period. Local evaporation recycling ratios (ERRs) in TGR basin decrease by 0.46%, 1.07%, 0.59, 0.94% during the post‐TGD period relative to the pre‐TGD period in spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively. Local evaporation contributions are limited in both the pre‐dam and post‐dam periods, especially in dry years. The reduced precipitation in TGR region is more dependent on upwind moisture, which results from the enhanced sinking motion and moisture divergence. Although different forcing data and simulation time steps show good agreement in spatial and temporal variations in the recycled moisture, the local ERRs are larger when calculated from the UTrack model than from the WAM‐2layers model. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4e398b6fbd294684a2b6dde51c3292d4 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 0043-1397 1944-7973 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water Resources Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-4e398b6fbd294684a2b6dde51c3292d42025-08-20T03:22:16ZengWileyWater Resources Research0043-13971944-79732025-04-01614n/an/a10.1029/2024WR038208Has the Three Gorges Reservoir Impacted Regional Moisture Recycling?Jia Wei0Weiguang Wang1Mingzhu Cao2Jianyun Zhang3Junliang Jin4Guoqing Wang5Hongbin Li6Xiaolong Pan7Zongchao Ye8Adriaan J. Teuling9Shuo Wang10The National Key Laboratory of Water Disaster Prevention Hohai University Nanjing ChinaThe National Key Laboratory of Water Disaster Prevention Hohai University Nanjing ChinaThe National Key Laboratory of Water Disaster Prevention Hohai University Nanjing ChinaThe National Key Laboratory of Water Disaster Prevention Hohai University Nanjing ChinaThe National Key Laboratory of Water Disaster Prevention Hohai University Nanjing ChinaThe National Key Laboratory of Water Disaster Prevention Hohai University Nanjing ChinaThe National Key Laboratory of Water Disaster Prevention Hohai University Nanjing ChinaThe National Key Laboratory of Water Disaster Prevention Hohai University Nanjing ChinaThe National Key Laboratory of Water Disaster Prevention Hohai University Nanjing ChinaHydrology and Quantitative Water Management Group Wageningen University Wageningen The NetherlandsDepartment of Land Surveying and Geo‐Informatics Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong ChinaAbstract The Three Gorges Dam (TGD) and its impoundment significantly alter natural river properties and local land cover, drawing considerable concerns regarding its climatic and environmental effects. However, with the role of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) in narrowing temperature ranges and changing precipitation patterns is well understood, its impact on moisture recycling is little known. Here, we tracked precipitation in the TGR basin back to evaporated moisture to explore the features of moisture recycling and quantify local evaporation ratios in the pre‐dam (1980–2002) and post‐dam (2003–2022) periods. The influences of the forcing data, simulation time steps and different tracking models on evaporation recycling are investigated. Relevant mechanisms are analyzed in terms of atmospheric motion, surface radiation, land cover changes and climate variability impacts. Results indicate that the precipitationshed shows a reduction in both summer and winter during the post‐dam period. Local evaporation recycling ratios (ERRs) in TGR basin decrease by 0.46%, 1.07%, 0.59, 0.94% during the post‐TGD period relative to the pre‐TGD period in spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively. Local evaporation contributions are limited in both the pre‐dam and post‐dam periods, especially in dry years. The reduced precipitation in TGR region is more dependent on upwind moisture, which results from the enhanced sinking motion and moisture divergence. Although different forcing data and simulation time steps show good agreement in spatial and temporal variations in the recycled moisture, the local ERRs are larger when calculated from the UTrack model than from the WAM‐2layers model.https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR038208Three Gorges Reservoirevaporationprecipitationmoisture recycling |
| spellingShingle | Jia Wei Weiguang Wang Mingzhu Cao Jianyun Zhang Junliang Jin Guoqing Wang Hongbin Li Xiaolong Pan Zongchao Ye Adriaan J. Teuling Shuo Wang Has the Three Gorges Reservoir Impacted Regional Moisture Recycling? Water Resources Research Three Gorges Reservoir evaporation precipitation moisture recycling |
| title | Has the Three Gorges Reservoir Impacted Regional Moisture Recycling? |
| title_full | Has the Three Gorges Reservoir Impacted Regional Moisture Recycling? |
| title_fullStr | Has the Three Gorges Reservoir Impacted Regional Moisture Recycling? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Has the Three Gorges Reservoir Impacted Regional Moisture Recycling? |
| title_short | Has the Three Gorges Reservoir Impacted Regional Moisture Recycling? |
| title_sort | has the three gorges reservoir impacted regional moisture recycling |
| topic | Three Gorges Reservoir evaporation precipitation moisture recycling |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR038208 |
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