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Characteristic of the water temperature lag in Three Gorges Reservoir and its effect on the water temperature structure of tributaries

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Abstract

The water temperature regimes of the Yangtze River has changed a lot since the impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), which lead to a significant effect on the water environment in the TGR. This paper focuses on the analysis of characteristics of water temperature regimes of the main stream in the TGR and the lagging effect of water temperature on temperature structure differences in six typical tributaries. The results showed that water temperature gradually decreased along the main stream and stratified position of water temperature was about 5–10 m arisen in estuaries of six tributaries in heating period. However, water temperature gradually increased along the main stream, and water temperature stratification of the six estuaries disappeared in cooling period. Annual vertical water temperature showed little change. After the impoundment of the TGR, the impact of water temperature is mainly reflected in lag characteristics. The monthly mean temperature difference significantly doubled, and the whole process of water temperature had been put off one month. Through further analyses, water temperature profile tends to be stable with the success of the TGR impounding to 175 m and contributes to water temperature differences in tributary, which is the main reason for water temperature structure changed from three layer to two layer gradually.

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Acknowledgements

The authors like to thank the following supports: International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China (2014DFE70070), National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB460601) and National Science and Technology Major Project (2014ZX07104-005-01, 2014ZX07104-005-02) for financial support to the first and fourth authors, National Natural Science Foundation of China (51209123, 51209190, 51179095 and 51179205) for the experimental platform on the water to carry out the experiment, and Three Gorges Reservoir Region of Ministry of Education China (KF2013-05) for the laboratory support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, 443002, Hubei, China

    Liang-Hong Long, Hui Xu, Dao-Bin Ji, Yu-Jie Cui, De-Fu Liu & Lin-Xu Song

  2. College of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, Hubei, China

    De-Fu Liu

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  1. Liang-Hong Long
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  2. Hui Xu
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  3. Dao-Bin Ji
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  4. Yu-Jie Cui
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  5. De-Fu Liu
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  6. Lin-Xu Song
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dao-Bin Ji.

Additional information

This article is part of a Topical Collection in Environmental Earth Sciences on “Environmental Research of the Three Gorges Reservoir”, guest edited by Binghui Zheng, Shengrui Wang, Yanwen Qin, Stefan Norra, and Xiafu Liu.

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Long, LH., Xu, H., Ji, DB. et al. Characteristic of the water temperature lag in Three Gorges Reservoir and its effect on the water temperature structure of tributaries. Environ Earth Sci 75, 1459 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-6266-1

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