title: Analysis of Poyang Lake water balance and its indication of river-lake interaction.
abstract: In recent years, water shortage is becoming one of the most serious problems in the Poyang Lake. In this paper, the long-term water balance items of the Poyang Lake have been analyzed to reveal the coupling effects of Three Gorges Dam (TGD) and droughts on the water balance of Poyang Lake. The results indicate that: (1) the water balance items of Poyang Lake vary greatly, e.g. lake precipitation and inflow decrease during the past several decades while evaporation and water consumption increase significantly; (2) the water balance of Poyang Lake has been affected by the operation of TGD. Negative lake water balance in recent years leads to a serious water shortage problem in the Poyang Lake. Moreover, the operation of TGD also changed the river-lake relationship in the lower Yangtze River basin; (3) the coupling effects of drought and TGD on the lake water balance has been analyzed by using composite analysis method and it can be found that the operation of TGD has significantly altered the lake water balance. But it is not the only factor that affects the lake water balance, and the droughts might cause their relations to be much more complicated.
authors.affiliation: Joint Innovation Center for Modern Forestry Studies, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037 China ; State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072 China.
authors.forename: Zengxin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Joint Innovation Center for Modern Forestry Studies, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037 China.
authors.forename: Yuhan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072 China ; Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Chong-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulics Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098 China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Alabama A&M University, Normal, AL 35762 USA.
authors.forename: Elica M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Moss
authors.affiliation: Joint Innovation Center for Modern Forestry Studies, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037 China.
authors.forename: Qiu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Alabama A&M University, Normal, AL 35762 USA.
authors.forename: Alisha M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bailey
keywords: Poyang Lake; River–lake interaction; The Three Gorges Dam; Water balance