Satellite observations reveal 13 years of reservoir filling  strategies, operating rules, and hydrological  alterations in the Upper Mekong River basin

Vu, Dung Trung; Dang, Thanh Duc; Galelli, Stefano; Hossain, Faisal

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2345-2022

Articles | Volume 26, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2345-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Socio-hydrology and transboundary rivers

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2345-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 9

Research article

|

05 May 2022

Research article |

| 05 May 2022

Satellite observations reveal 13 years of reservoir filling strategies, operating rules, and hydrological alterations in the Upper Mekong River basin

Dung Trung Vu, Thanh Duc Dang, Stefano Galelli, and Faisal Hossain

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2345-2022-supplement

Data sets

Codes and Data of Satellite Observations Reveal 13 Years of Reservoir Filling Strategies, Operating Rules, and Hydrological Alterations in the Upper Mekong River Basin D. T. Vu https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6299041

Dam Monitoring EGAT - Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand http://water.egat.co.th/follow.php

CHIRPS: Rainfall Estimation from Rain Gauge and Satellite Observation University of California https://data.chc.ucsb.edu/products/CHIRPS-2.0/

Harmonized World Soil Database (version 1.2) FAO, IIASA, ISRIC, ISSCAS, and JRC https://www.fao.org/soils-portal/soil-survey/soil-maps-and-databases/harmonized-world-soil-database-v12/en/

Global Reservoirs and Lakes Monitor (G-REALM) IPAD, FAS, and USDA https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer/global_reservoir/

Short summary

The lack of data on how big dams are operated in the Upper Mekong, or Lancang, largely contributes to the ongoing controversy between China and the other Mekong countries. Here, we rely on satellite observations to reconstruct monthly storage time series for the 10 largest reservoirs in the Lancang. Our analysis shows how quickly reservoirs were filled in, what decisions were made during recent droughts, and how these decisions impacted downstream discharge.