Abstract
Through numerical simulation using the three-dimensional Delft3D-Flow model, a unique phenomenon was found in a tropical, large, riverine reservoir in China on the Lancang-Mekong River, namely the Nuozhadu Reservoir. The surface water temperature rises significantly from the upper end of the reservoir to the dam, by about + 3.8 ℃ per 100 km, far exceeding the original longitudinal increase rate before construction of the reservoir. As a result, the water is always warmer than the air in front of the dam all the year round. Analysis illustrated that this phenomenon results from the strong solar radiation in the tropical region and the strong thermal stratification in the reservoir and the increase of surface water temperature is positively correlated with the hydraulic residence time. This phenomenon may have an important effect on the local environment; since there are many large, riverine reservoirs in tropical regions across the world, this study can serve as a reference for the management of the reservoirs with similar characteristics.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of Data and Materials
The authors are grateful to the China Meteorological Data Sharing Service System (http://cdc.cma.gov.cn/) for providing the meteorological data, and Huaneng Lancang River Hydropower Inc for providing the topography, flow rates, and field data, which contributed a lot to our research results reported in this paper. All the simulated results and measured data presented in this paper are available upon request to the corresponding author (zhudejun@tsinghua.edu.cn).
References
Adrian R, Reilly CM, Zagarese H, Baines SB, Hessen DO, Keller W et al (2009) Lakes as sentinels of climate change. Limnol Oceanogr 54:2283–2297. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2009.54.6_part_2.2283
Antonopoulos VZ, Gianniou SK (2022) Analysis and modelling of temperature at the water – atmosphere interface of a lake by energy budget and ANNs models. Environ Process 9:15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40710-022-00572-0
Campbell IC (2009) The Mekong: Biophysical environment of an international river basin. Academic Pr Inc
Carron JC, Rajaram H (2001) Impact of variable reservoir releases on management of downstream water temperatures. Water Resour Res 37(6):1733–1743. https://doi.org/10.1029/2000WR900390
Carrivick J, Brown L, Hannah D, Turner A (2012) Numerical modelling of spatio-temporal thermal heterogeneity in a complex river system. J Hydrol 414:491–502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.11.026
Chen G, Fang X, Devkota J (2016) Understanding flow dynamics and density currents in a river-reservoir system under upstream reservoir releases. Hydrol Sci J 61:2411–2426. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2015.1112902
Chow VT (1959) Open-Channel Hydraulics. NY, USA
Caliskan A, Elci S (2009) Effects of selective withdrawal on hydrodynamics of a stratified reservoir. Water Resour Manag 23:1257–1273. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-008-9325-x
Chang X, Liu X, Zhou W (2010) Hydropower in China at present and its further development. Energy 35:4400–4406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2009.06.051
Chanudet V, Fabre V, Kaaij T (2012) Application of a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model to the Nam Theun 2 Reservoir (Lao PDR). J Great Lakes Res 38:260–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2012.01.008
Coura MR, Cordova JE, Oliveira SC (2021) Analysis of changes in the quality of surface water after filling of hydroelectric reservoirs in the Amazon, Brazil. Environ Process 8:573–592. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40710-021-00508-0
Deltares (2003) User manual of Delft3D-Flow—simulation of multi-dimensional hydrodynamic flows and transport phenomena, including sediments
Debolsky VK, Neymark RV (1994) Thermally non-uniform flow in water reservoir: numerical investigation. J Hydraul Res 32:25–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221689409498787
Fan H, He D, Wang H (2015) Environmental consequences of damming the mainstream Lancang-Mekong River: A review. Earth Sci Rev 146:77–91. S0012825215000598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.03.007
Fantin-Cruz I, Pedrollo O, Bonecker CC, Zeilhofer P (2015) Key factors in vertical mixing processes in a reservoir bordering the Pantanal floodplain, Brazil. Hydrol Sci J 60:1508–1519. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2014.933224
Feng M, Zhou X, Zheng B (2003) Numerical simulation on vertical 2-d unsteady flow of Nuozhadu hydropower station. J Hydroelectr Eng (in Chinese) 3:88–94. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1003-1243.2003.03.013
Gao X, Chen H, Wang A, Dong S, Zhang Z, Zhao Y (2010) Experimental study on temperature of water released from the multi-level intake of Nuozhadu hydropower station. J Hydroelectr Eng (in Chinese) 29(3):126–131. https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1035.2010.01223
Guo S, Wang F, Zhu D, Ni G, Chen Y (2022) Evaluation of the WRF-lake model in the large dimictic reservoir: Comparisons with field data and another water temperature model. J Hydrometeorol 23:1227–1244. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-21-0220.1
Guo S, Zhu D, Chen Y (2023) Improvement and evaluation of the latest version of WRF-lake at a deep riverine reservoir. Adv Atmos Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-022-2180-5
Hamblin PF, Mcadam SO (2003) Impoundment effects on the thermal regimes of Kootenay lake, the arrow lakes reservoir and upper Columbia River. Hydrobiologia 504:3–19. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HYDR.0000008503.75784.ee
Hamrick JM, Mills WB (2000) Analysis of water temperatures in Conowingo Pond as influenced by the Peach Bottom atomic power plant thermal discharge. Environ Sci Policy 3:197–209. S1462901100000538. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1462-9011(00)00053-8
Hondzo M, Stefan HG (1993) Regional water temperature characteristics of lakes subjected to climate change. Clim Change 24:187–211. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01091829
Hostetler SW, Giorgi F (1994) Lake-atmosphere feedbacks associated with paleolakes Bonneville and Lahontan. Science 263:665. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.263.5147.665
Imberger J (1985) The diurnal mixed layer. Limnol Oceanogr 30(4):737–770. https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1985.30.4.0737
Jiang B, Wang F, Ni G (2018) Heating impact of a tropical reservoir on downstream water temperature: a case study of the Jinghong Dam on the Lancang River. Water 10:951. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10070951
Liang R, Deng Y, Tuo Y, Li J (2012) Analysis on characteristics of water temperature’s cumulative effects of river cascade hydropower stations. J Sichuan Univ (Eng Sci Ed) (in Chinese) 44:221–227. https://doi.org/10.15961/j.jsuese.2012.s2.056
Li Z, Zhu D, Chen Y, Fang X, Liu Z, Ma W (2016) Simulating and understanding effects of water level fluctuations on thermal regimes in Miyun reservoir. Hydrol Sci J 61:952–969. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2014.983517
Ma D, Wang T, Gao C, Pan S, Sun Z, Xu Y (2018) Potential evapotranspiration changes in Lancang River Basin and Yarlung Zangbo River Basin, southwest China. Hydrol Sci J 63:1653–1668. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2018.1524147
Murchie KJ, Hair KPE, Pullen CE, Redpath TD, Cooke SJ (2010) Fish response to modified flow regimes in regulated rivers: research methods, effects and opportunities. River Res Appl 24:197–217. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.1058
Owens EM, Effler SW, Trama F (1986) Variability in thermal stratification in a reservoir. J Am Water Resour Assoc 22:219–227. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-1688.1986.tb01878.x
Owens EM (1998) Thermal and heat transfer characteristics of Cannonsville Reservoir. Lake Reser Manag 14:152–161. https://doi.org/10.1080/07438149809354327
Preece RM, Jones HA (2002) The effect of Keepit Dam on the temperature regime of the Namoi River Australia. River Res Appl 18(4):397–414. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.686
Singto C, de Vries M, Hofstede GJ, Fleskens L (2021) Ex ante impact assessment of reservoir construction projects for different stakeholders using agent-based modeling. Water Resour Manag 35:1047–1064. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-021-02771-0
Steenburgh WJ, Campbell LS (2017) The OWLeS IOP2b lake-effect snowstorm: Shoreline geometry and the mesoscale forcing of precipitation. Mon Weather Rev 145:2421–2436. https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-16-0460.1
Stefan HG, Fang X (1997) Simulated climate change effects on ice and snow covers on lakes in a temperate region. Cold Reg Sci Technol 25:137–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-232X(96)00023-7
Strakraba M, Tundisi JG, Duncan A (1993) State-of-the-art of reservoir limnology and water quality management. Springer, Netherlands 77:213–288. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1096-1_13
Subin ZM, Riley WJ, Mironov D (2012) An improved lake model for climate simulations: model structure, evaluation, and sensitivity analyses. J Adv Model Earth Syst 4:2001-. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011MS000072
Swayne D, Lam D, Mackay M, Rouse W, Schertzer W (2005) Assessment of the interaction between the Canadian regional climate model and lake thermal-hydrodynamic models. Environ Modell Softw 20:1505–1513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2004.08.015
Tsanis IK, Wu J (2000) Application and verification of a three dimensional hydrodynamic model to Hamilton Harbour, Canada. Glob NEST J 2:77–89
Ward JV (1985) Thermal characteristics of running waters. Hydrobiologia 125:31–46. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00045924
Wang X, Liang P, Li C, Wu F (2014) Analysis of regional temperature variation characteristics in the Lancang River Basin in southwestern China. Quatern Int 333:198–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.09.002
Wang F, Ni G, Riley WJ, Tang J, Zhu D, Sun T (2019a) Evaluation of the WRF lake module (v1.0) and its improvements at a deep reservoir. Geosci Model Dev 12:2119–2138. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-2119-2019
Wang Y, Zang L, Zhang X (2003) Water temperature of river model and its forecast for downstream flow of Nuozhadu Reservoir. J Xi’an Univ Technol (in Chinese). https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1006-4710.2003.03.008
Wang L, Yang H, Zhou S, Chen E, Tang S (2018) Mechanical properties, long-term hydration heat, shinkage behavior and crack resistance of dam concrete designed with low heat portland (lhp) cement and fly ash. Constr Build Mater 187:1073–1091. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.08.056
Wang S, Shen W, Tang W, Wang Y, Duffield CF, Hui F (2019b) Understanding the social network of stakeholders in hydropower project development: an owners’ view. Renew Energ 132:326–334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2018.07.137
Xie Q, Liu Z, Fang X, Chen Y, Li C, MacIntyre S (2017) Understanding the temperature variations and thermal structure of a subtropical deep river-run reservoir before and after impoundment. Water 9:603. https://doi.org/10.3390/w9080603
Xing Z, Fong DA, Tan KM, Lo EY, Monismith SG (2012) Water and heat budgets of a shallow tropical reservoir. Water Resour Res 48(6). https://doi.org/10.1029/2011WR011314
Zhou J, Yang Q, Zhang M (2019) Thermal-effect of the upper Yangtze Reservoirs and countermeasures. J Lake Sci (in Chinese) 31:1–17. https://doi.org/10.18307/2019.0101
Acknowledgements
This paper greatly benefited from the valuable discussion with and advice from Prof. Danxun Li from the Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Funding
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2022YFC3201803) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. U224320107).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
S Guo conducted the simulation and wrote the first draft of the paper. D Zhu conceptualized the research, improved the manuscript, and acquired funding. Y Chen discussed about the results and improved the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics Approval
There are no relevant waivers or approvals.
Consent to Participate
The authors consent to their participation in the process of entire review.
Consent to Publish
The authors will allow the publication if the research is accepted.
Competing Interests
The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Guo, S., Zhu, D. & Chen, Y. Modelling and Analyzing a Unique Phenomenon of Surface Water Temperature Rise in a Tropical, Large, Riverine Reservoir. Water Resour Manage 37, 1711–1727 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-023-03450-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-023-03450-y