Factors influencing water level changes in China’s largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake, in the past 50 years

Abstract

This study analyses the changing characteristics in the level of Poyang Lake during the period 1960–2010. Results show that the changing stage of annual lake level variations is evident, and average onset time of the lake dry season has advanced since the 1990s. Investigation indicates that the Yangtze River discharge has a greater impact on annual lake level variations than the lake’s catchment inflow. Climate change in the Yangtze River basin since the 1990s is possibly the precondition for the advance of the lake dry season, which is further aggravated by the effects of the Three Gorges Dam in the 2000s.