Impact of the Three Gorges Dam water storage on the Yangtze River outflow into the East China Sea

Abstract

The role of the Three Gorges Dam Water Storage (TGDWS) in changing salinity in the East China Sea (ECS) near the Yangtze River Estuary (YRE) was investigated using a multi‐sensor remote sensing technique, namely the salt steric height anomaly, calculated from Sea Surface Height Anomaly (SSHA) and Sea Surface Temperature (SST) data. The patterns of the salt steric height anomaly near the YRE agreed well with the in situ Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) measurements. In order to examine the changes in stability in the mixed layer near the YRE due to TGDWS, the time series of the steric height anomaly ratio (R s ′) between heat and salt at three locations were estimated. The R s ′ was strongly associated with a coastal upwelling in the ECS, because the reduced freshwater outflow gives rise to changes of both mixed layer depth and surface current patterns off the YRE.