The crucial project for Yangtze River governance and protection, the Three Gorges Hydropower Complex Project is the largest water- and hydroelectric energy project globally, offering many major advantages.
Heavy climate events, including extreme precipitation, extreme heat, and regional droughts, have become more frequent in recent times of global warming. These occurrences, as well as the related geological disasters, pose a threat to the safe operation of the Three Gorges Project.
That is why it is essential to continue monitoring climate anomalies and the major impacts of extreme events.
This report summarized the reasons for the abnormal high-temperature weather in early autumn not covered in previous annual reports (Zoyou et al. 2020; Chen et al. 2021; Cui et al. 2022).
What Does Report Suggest about the Three Gorges Region?
One of the most significant natural elements impacting the safe functioning of the Three Gorges Project is climate extremes. In each of the last 12 years, we have met the target of 175 m of complete storage. On the one hand, it demonstrates that China’s water resources are being used more effectively. However, because of the significant contributions made by scientists to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying climate extremes, we are able to offer more sophisticated services for decision-making, according to Prof. Chen.
This report points out that the 2021 TGR was warmer than normal, with plenty of precipitation and frequent extreme weather occurrences in most regions.
Both the number of rain days and accumulated precipitation surpassed the record in some regions; cold-air activity increased during the autumn and winter.
The TGR began to experience unusually high temperatures in early autumn, caused by abnormal atmospheric circulation in medium and high latitudes over the Eurasian continent and the subtropical high Western Pacific Ocean.
Prof. Chen continues, “We will keep enhancing our observations of the climate. “We can evaluate the impact on the climate in the Three Gorges Reservoir area in more depth if we have a much longer set of observational data.”
