The severe drought which plagued southwest
China's Sichuan
Province and Chongqing Municipality this summer was not caused by
the Three Gorges Dam, a meteorological expert said Monday.
"The rare drought was the result of global warming as well as
abnormal atmospheric circumfluence," said China Meteorological
Administration Climate Centre Director Dong Wenjie, in Beijing.
Dong denied popular speculation that the drought was caused by
water being held back by the dam.
Dong said years of research by the State Council's Three Gorges
Office and the China Meteorological Administration proved that the
dam would not have a major influence on the climate and
environment.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences has analyzed the research's
results, concluding that: "The construction of the Three Gorges Dam
has a tiny influence over the surrounding area."
It also found that the dam's influence on temperature, humidity,
winds and fogs is confined to an area of less than 10 kilometers
around it.
Dong said the dam only raises the average annual temperature by
0.2 C in an area of less than two kilometers. In summer, the dam
cools the area by 0.9 to 1.2 C.
Dong said the international meteorological community generally
holds that the water stored in a large reservoir has no significant
influence on climate.
Dong said the rainfall between June and August in Sichuan
Province and Chongqing Municipality had been the lowest in the past
55 years.
The low rainfall was caused by several factors. One is that a
subtropical high over the western Pacific Ocean had been
extraordinarily strong, obstructing warm and humid air currents
trying to reach southwest China.
On the other hand, a stable and extraordinarily strong high
pressure zone on the Tibetan Plateau dominated the area,
restraining convection over Sichuan and Chongqing.
(China Daily October 24, 2006)
