How dams fingerprint regional sea-level change
Impounding reservoir water lowers global mean sea level but can raise relative sea level within about 2000 km of large dams.
Source
A Spatially Variable Time Series of Sea Level Change Due to Artificial Water Impoundment
Study at a glance
- Design
- Computational / modelling — GRD sea-level fingerprints of GRanD reservoir impoundment plus seepage and future dams
- N
- N=6329 · 6,329 post-1900 GRanD reservoirs (5,979 km³ total volume)
- Population
- Global artificial reservoirs in the GRanD database (1900–2011) and projected Zarfl dams
- Outcome
- Global mean and spatially variable relative sea-level change from water impoundment
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
What they did
Authors computed yearly gravitational-rotational-deformational sea-level fingerprints for GRanD reservoirs (1900–2011), added seepage, and projected Zarfl hydropower dams to 2040.
What they found
GRanD volume of 5,979 km³ equals a 16.6 mm GMSL fall (0.15 mm/yr); with seepage the drop is 21.8 mm by 2011 and 30.1 mm by 2040. Nearby relative sea level can rise ~40 mm (Manicouagan), opposite the global mean.
The limits
What it doesn't show
GRanD holds only ~72% of WRD volume with unknown geography for the rest; future volumes are inferred from hydropower capacity, and 3-D Earth structure is neglected (~1% fingerprint error).
Key terms
- GRD fingerprint
- Sea-level pattern from gravity, rotation, and solid-Earth deformation after mass moves.
- GMSL
- Global mean sea level.
- GRanD
- Georeferenced database of large reservoirs used for 1900–2011.
- Seepage
- Slow leakage of reservoir water into surrounding land, still withheld from the ocean.
- Relative sea level
- Sea surface height relative to the local solid Earth.
Flashcards
Research intelligence for this paper
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Quiz yourself
Near a filled reservoir, relative sea level typically:
Common questions
Does filling a dam always lower local sea level?
No—RSL can rise within ~2000 km even as GMSL falls.
GRanD GMSL fall 1900–2011?
16.6 mm, or 21.8 mm including seepage.
How many post-1900 GRanD reservoirs?
6,329, totaling 5,979 km³.
2040 seepage-inclusive GMSL drop?
About 30.1 mm.
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