Summer and autumn droughts in part of the Yangtze River: US satellites have observed Poyang Lake many times. How big is the impact of the drought?

Since the summer of 2022, the northern hemisphere can be said to have encountered the earth - like the "prehistoric climate change", many areas have experienced historic high temperatures and droughts. For example, Europe has suffered the strongest drought in at least 500 years, and my country's Chongqing has suffered. The rare high temperature of 45 degrees, etc., all show that the climate in 2022 is really changing.

For my country, the main climate problem may be the drought in the Yangtze River, which has experienced the strongest drought in 61 years. It has to be said that the drought this time has brought a lot of impact.

No, the U.S. Landsat 8 satellite has locked onto Poyang Lake in China for many times, so we can see the drought problem in Poyang Lake again. Let’s take a look at it step by step.

The Yangtze River is dry, the Poyang Lake is dry

We also mentioned above that since the summer of 2022, the Yangtze River Basin in my country has been in the "rainy season stage". As a result, the Yangtze River Basin has experienced a state of "reverse dryness during the flood season", so the problem of drought has also developed.

Of course, at this time, many people may think about the issue of water release from the Three Gorges Reservoir in my country. Don't release water when it's dry, and release water like crazy when it's raining. is it really like this? In fact, it is not. We have also stated many times that the Three Gorges Reservoir in my country will cooperate with the upstream reservoirs for large-scale water release many times during the dry period in 2022.

The water use in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River has been alleviated a lot, and many urban water use and agricultural water use are all relieved by the upstream reservoirs. Therefore, the Three Gorges Reservoir and the upstream reservoirs have already played a role - the drought resistance is very obvious. It's just that many people may think, why not continue to release water.

To put it simply, the upstream is also dry, what to do when the water is exhausted, the reservoir is vacated, what to do with power generation, etc., it is not as simple as everyone thinks. For the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, it is only possible to ensure water for humans and agriculture. The reduction of water in the river may be a follow-up guarantee. When the water source is sufficient, it is possible to raise the water level of the entire Yangtze River.

Therefore, it is completely normal for the Yangtze River to be dry and Poyang Lake to dry up. After all, Poyang Lake is also the main stream area of ​​the Yangtze River. Moreover, according to data from the Jiangxi Provincial Hydrological Monitoring Center, the water level of Poyang Lake has dropped below 8 meters, and it has officially entered the dry season.

Therefore, Poyang Lake has dried up, and the impact on the ecosystem is also an obvious fact. What is the impact? Let's first look at the observation of Poyang Lake in China by the US satellite.

Summer and autumn drought in part of the Yangtze River: US satellite observation of Poyang Lake many times

According to satellite data released by the United States, it is true that the drought problem in Poyang Lake is still serious. The large-scale retreat of Poyang Lake has damaged the irrigation, shipping and drinking water systems of nearby communities. In the state of being as thin as firewood, there are very few water source areas that can be seen in the entire Poyang Lake.

Therefore, the drought in Poyang Lake is really too strong. Of course, my country itself has also reported many times that grass grows in many Poyang Lake areas. Therefore, the US satellite observation of Poyang Lake in China can be regarded as a "confirmation" of drought.

Of course, we can also see from the monitoring data of drought in my country that the area where Poyang Lake is located is still very dry, and a large area of ​​Jiangxi is dry, and some areas are even extremely dry.

In addition, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan and other places are also in a state of drought. Therefore, the drought in the Yangtze River has not been relieved at all, and the relief area of ​​the drought is limited to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

At the same time, it is worth noting that the "continuous summer and autumn drought" has also appeared in the Yangtze River. Especially in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the continuous development of drought has become a trend.

Therefore, many people are also looking forward to a typhoon to ease the drought in the Yangtze River. However, there is indeed a typhoon "Plum Blossom" in the Northwest Pacific region. According to the trend, this plum blossom is completely invisible to my country's drought relief, and may bring stronger drought to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in my country.

So, don't wait any longer. Although some institutions have shown that it is possible to enter the inland area directly from Zhejiang, my country, it is not very likely. The main change depends on how the subtropical high is controlled. We will not discuss the correlation here. Back to the problem of Poyang Lake in my country.

Poyang Lake continues to be dry. How big is the impact?

On the surface, we actually know that the drought in Poyang Lake has a knock-on effect. The direct impact is on agricultural irrigation, and the impact on the ecosystem is huge.

During the drought period in 2022, the farmland around Poyang Lake has been dispatched on a large scale due to water shortages to alleviate the drought problem and ensure sufficient water sources for the farmland so as not to affect food.

In fact, from the perspective of ecosystems, Poyang Lake, as the main ecological region of the Yangtze River Basin in my country, is very rich in biological resources. The area is in a pristine state, with abundant aquatic plants, which is conducive to the reproduction of aquatic organisms.

Therefore, during the biological survey of this area, there are more than 100 species of fish, among which rare fish such as herring, grass carp, silver carp and so on exist in this area.

Under the drought, however, the plight of these fish has also emerged.

In addition, during the investigation of Poyang Lake, it was also found that many arid areas also experienced fish deaths. Although, it has little impact on the overall ecosystem.

However, as soon as it occurs, the impact on the ecosystem is certain. In addition, during this period, we have also seen many deaths of "finless porpoises" in the Poyang Lake area.

Although natural death and unnatural death are included. However, Poyang Lake's entry into the extremely dry season did have an impact on them.

For example, the living space of the finless porpoise is compressed, the extremely dry climate will affect the reproduction of fish in the following year, and the replenishment capacity of fish population will decrease. Then the food of the finless porpoise will also decrease. In addition, the peak breeding season of Poyang Lake finless porpoise is generally spring and autumn. As a result, the extremely low water level will be encountered in 2022, which will also have an impact on the newly born finless porpoise.

Therefore, the continuous drought in Poyang Lake has a great impact on the whole, especially for the protection of the Yangtze River region in my country, it will really be a "reverse blow" in 2022.

This can be regarded as telling us that the protection of the Yangtze River should continue to increase in the future. The great climate change in 2022 has also made us realize that climate change not only affects the survival of human beings, but also has a fatal impact on the entire biological population of the earth. Once the earth's ecosystem collapses, it is really nothing left.

When the time comes to think about how to protect the earth, it is really "empty talk". So, we're seeing continued extreme extremes in Earth's climate, which is definitely not a good thing.