Dam Construction in Lancang-Mekong River Basin Could Mitigate Future Flood Risk From Warming-Induced Intensified Rainfall

Wang, Wei; Lu, Hui; Leung, L. Ruby; Li, Hong-Yi; Zhao, Jianshi; Tian, Fuqiang; Yang, Kun; Sothea, Khem

doi:10.1002/2017GL075037

Title: Dam Construction in Lancang-Mekong River Basin Could Mitigate Future Flood Risk From Warming-Induced Intensified Rainfall

Journal Article · 09 October 2017 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075037 · OSTI ID:1430447

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^[5]; Tian, Fuqiang ^[5];

^[2]; Sothea, Khem ^[6]

Changjiang Inst. of Survey, Planning, Design and Research, Wuhan (China); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China); Joint Center for Global Change Studies, Beijing (China)
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT (United States)
Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
Mekong Inst. of Cambodia, Phnom Penh (Cambodia)

Water resources management, in particular flood control, in the Mekong River Basin (MRB) faces two key challenges in the 21st century: climate change and dam construction. Herein, a large scale distributed Geomorphology-Based Hydrological Model coupled with a simple reservoir regulation model (GBHM-MK-SOP) is used to investigate the relative effects of climate change and dam construction on the flood characteristics in the MRB. Results suggest an increase in both flood magnitude and frequency under climate change, which is more severe in the upstream basin and increases over time. However, dam construction and stream regulation reduce flood risk consistently throughout this century, with more obvious effects in the upstream basin where larger reservoirs will be located. The flood mitigation effect of dam regulation dominates over the flood intensification effect of climate change before 2060, but the latter emerges more prominently after 2060 and dominates the flood risk especially in the lower basin.

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Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Key Research and Development Program of China; National Key Basic Research Program of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830; 2016YFA0601603; 2015CB953703; 91537210; 41371328

OSTI ID:: 1430447

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-127876; KP1703010

Journal Information:: Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 44, Issue 20; ISSN 0094-8276

Publisher:: American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 74 works

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Title: Dam Construction in Lancang-Mekong River Basin Could Mitigate Future Flood Risk From Warming-Induced Intensified Rainfall

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