Submitted on December 26, 2007
Accepted on March 5, 2008
Impact of Artificial Reservoir Water Impoundment on Global Sea Level
B. F. Chao 1*, Y. H. Wu 1, Y. S. Li 1
1 College of Earth Sciences, National Central University, Chung-Li, Taiwan, ROC.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
B. F. Chao , E-mail: bfchao{at}ncu.edu.tw
By reconstructing the history of the water impoundment in world’s artificial reservoirs, we show that a total of ~10,800 km3 of water has been impounded on land to date, reducing the magnitude of global sea level (GSL) rise by –30.0 mm, by an average rate of –0.55 mm/yr during the past half century. This demands a significantly larger contribution to GSL rise from other (natural and anthropogenic) causes than otherwise required. The reconstructed GSL history accounting for the impact of reservoirs (by adding back the impounded water volume) shows an essentially constant rate of rise at +2.46 mm/yr over at least the last 80 years, contrary to the conventional view of apparently variable GSL rise based on face values of observation.
