Abstract
Water temperature plays a crucial role in water ecological environment both in the reservoir and downstream area. Three Gorges Project (TGP) is the largest hydraulic engineering in the world, and changes of water quality attract much more attention, especially in the thermal structure since impoundment. In order to clearly understand water temperature distribution after impoundment in the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), we monitored the temperature distribution of the Taipingxi section which was not far from the dam from early April to the end of July. According to the analyzing of the monitoring data of transverse and vertical temperature variation, we could find that the temperature mixed uniformly in transverse direction. Excepting April, there was basically had no temperature difference in vertical direction, even in April, the maximum temperature difference was only 1.39°C within 100 meters (April 22), the average temperature gradient was only 0.014°C/m; Both the temperature of water and atmosphere have similar variation tendency, but the response of the water temperature to atmosphere is delayed, especially the bottom water temperature. The result indicate that the reservoir has mixed thermal structure during impoundment phase, so the release temperature had little change after the impoundment, the work provide a scientific basis for the development of pollution control and ecological protection measure.
Highlights
Water temperature is an important water quality parameter in aquatic ecosystems, and plays a crucial role in ecological functioning and controlling the biogeochemical processes of a water column[1,2,3]
Most deep temperate and subtropical reservoirs develop thermal stratification every spring and summer[4]. the stable stratified water column is usually segregated into epilimnion, thermocline and hypolimnion in vertical by the density difference produced via warming of surface water, stratification acts as a barrier restraining mixing of the water column, as a result of incomplete mixing of the water column and lack of light for the photosynthesis at the hypolimnion, the water column can become anoxic[5,6]
Three Gorges Project (TGP) is a key to the Yangtze River management and development which is constructed from 1994 to 2009; It brings significant benefits in electric power generation, flood control and shipping traffic et al, and the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) is a large temperate reservoir located in the mid-west of China, spans Hubei province and Chongqing municipality, with a surface area of 79000 km2 and a storage capacity of 3.93×1010 m3 at his maximum water level (175m)
Summary
Water temperature is an important water quality parameter in aquatic ecosystems, and plays a crucial role in ecological functioning and controlling the biogeochemical processes of a water column[1,2,3]. The CWP is thought to be a key threat to a number of species, primarily due to the importance of warm-water temperature for important life stages, penetratingly understanding of temperature structure in reservoirs is one of the important contents in water quality assessment of hydropower project[8]. TGP is a key to the Yangtze River management and development which is constructed from 1994 to 2009; It brings significant benefits in electric power generation, flood control and shipping traffic et al, and the TGR is a large temperate reservoir located in the mid-west of China, spans Hubei province and Chongqing municipality, with a surface area of 79000 km and a storage capacity of 3.93×1010 m3 at his maximum water level (175m). The dam is deep-release dam which is located at the east most part of the reservoir, controlling the outflow of the Yangtze River, the outlets locate between 97 m to 104m, correspondingly, we refer them as deep outlets, 32 unit of turbine each of them in capacity of 700 MW and in total 2.24×107 megawatts are installed in power generation section of dam[9,10]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
