These images acquired along the Yangtze River (Sandouping town, Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China), in a time window of 27 years by the Landsat 5 and 8 satellites, aim to show the Three Gorges Dam, a hydroelectric dam built in the stretch of the Yangtze River (Upper left image). Director of the Operations Department of the Three Gorges Group Basin Administration, said the Google Maps image in question was not taken directly by a satellite, but had been processed by a series of algorithms which were different from those used by the official Chinese map. The third flood in 2020 is striking the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, sending water to the Three Gorges Dam’s reservoirs at a rate of 50,000 cubic meters per second. Click to add a point.Click twice to complete. Leo Timm is a writer and translator focusing on China's traditional culture, international relations, and its national polity. They could have at least put in some texturing and shadows to attempt to fool us. “While some blocks moved toward the upstream direction due to the force of the water, others were moved toward downstream. Photo taken on June 8, 2020 shows the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province. “By April 2019, the vertical movements of the dam foundation had cumulatively moved 1.45 to 26.69 millimeters (0.06 to 1.05 inches)… the horizontal movements cumulatively moved -0.24 to – 4.63 mm,” the state-run company said in its statement. Landsat 5 acquired the bottom image on April 17, 1987, several years before construction on the dam began. Twitter Updates. Explore recent images of storms, wildfires, property and more. In recent weeks, Chinese Internet users have circulated Google Earth photos showing the condition of the dam in 2009 and in 2018. Workers hold up a layout plan of the Three Gorges Dam project by the Yangtze river in Hubei province in September 1995. (Google Earth/Leng Shan) Xi Jinping’s Veiled Comment. Fire spots show sources of high temperature, updated daily using data from FIRMS via GIBS. A pointed atmosphere of skepticism for official pronouncements has developed in the region. Long questioned for its safety, the massive Three Gorges Dam in China has once again gained public attention. The Three Gorges project is a multi-functional water-control system, consisting of a 2,309-metre-long and 185-metre-high dam, a five-tier ship lock on the north and south, and 34 turbo-generators with a combined generating capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts. China warned that the massive Three Gorges Dam faced its largest-ever flood surge, as President Xi Jinping toured one of the areas hardest hit by a wave of flooding this summer. Daily imagery is provided by services from NASA’s GIBS, part of EOSDIS. Type A-Z Date. The United States and allies separately announced that they will not be importing specific items from the Xinjiang region in China because it is... Satellite Photos Raise Fears About Condition of Three Gorges Dam, “A Chinese independent economist who posts on Twitter under the pseudonym Leng Shan shared two satellite images side-by-side on June 30: one taken 10 years ago shows that the dam structure is in a straight line; the other, taken in 2018, shows the dam has slight curvatures,”, “Someday in the future, the Three Gorges Dam will break,” Wang wrote, his comments translated by, Dark Matter May Be Older Than the Big Bang, Study Suggests, Intermittent Fasting: The No Drama Diet Program, China Halts Import of Key Australian Commodities, CCP Virus Second Wave Rapidly Spreads Across Communist China, Slave Labor: US and Allies Ban Products From Xinjiang, China, Will Biden Expand and Pack the Supreme Court? Satellite image of the Three Gorges Dam spilling water. Follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our weekly email. It is considered to be politically linked to the late high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official Li Peng, who died on July 22. Read our cookie policy and Google’s policy to learn more. NASA-NOAA polar-orbiting satellites Suomi-NPP and MODIS Aqua and Terra provide continuous imagery for “AM” at local 10:30am, and “PM” at local 1:30pm. China; World: Follow us on Twitter. Photo: NASA Earth Observatory / Joshua Stevens. Although it meets the water needs of millions of people, the river regularly overflows its banks. Erosion due to rainfall was another factor. But the vertical and horizontal movements are not at the same levels,” Wang wrote, explaining the cause of the deformity. Hundreds of millions of people live in the Yangtze River Valley, China’s longest river, which flows downstream of the Three Gorges Dam. Wang analyzed all recently published satellite pictures released by Chinese state-run media — which showed the dam from different angles than Google Earth — and said: “These photos cannot certify that the dam was not deformed.”. The world's biggest hydropower project is … The provinces of Hunan, Henan and Hubei, where the Three Gorges dam is located, were also braced for heavy rain on Thursday. Three Gorges Dam, Yangtze River, China. Freshly appointed CCP General Secretary Jiang Zemin, in an effort to curry favor with his colleagues, gave Li Peng, then Chinese premier, the green light for the project. Waiting For An Unnatural Disaster: … China insists massive Three Gorges Dam is safe after satellite images show the 'distorted' structure is at risk of collapse. Social media users in China have been circulating two Google aerial photos comparing the Three Gorges Dam in 2009 and 2018. It’s difficult to deny the value of hydropower as an alternative energy source to coal, but the project has possibly caused unintended consequences. Sections of the vast Three Gorges Dam … On the morning of the 20th, the water level of the Three Gorges Dam was about 165 meters, with only 10 meters remaining up to the maximum water level of 175 meters. Hundreds of millions of people live in the Yangtze River Valley, China’s longest river, which flows downstream of the Three Gorges Dam. The operator said distortions revealed by satellite images … On April 24 – 25, 2018, Xi inspected the Three Gorges Dam … Construction of the dam was controversial from the outset, as its feasibility and safety had been severely questioned by experts since the project was first proposed in the 1950s. You will see that the “image” is actually 3D rendering of the dam (Not satellite imagery). But the company has kept the dam closed to visitors since July 5, only adding to the concerns. Three Gorges Dam, China. Previously known as Flash Earth. The image at the top of this page shows water moving through the gates of Three Gorges Dam. Tensions between China and Australia have risen as China halts import of goods from Australia. The flooding threatens to … The dam was completed in 2009 — construction began in 1994. (Image: Hugh Llewelyn via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0), Wang Weiluo said in his recent analysis that because the dam is composed of dozens of concrete blocks over a length of about a mile, but are not connected to the bedrock, the whole dam “has been moving since day one.”. Historical imagery is sourced from Microsoft and Esri. (Image: Michael Gwyther-Jones via Flickr CC BY 2.0). The 185-metre Three Gorges Dam has been one of China’s most expensive and most controversial engineering projects. The above image shows a 60-kilometer stretch of the Yangtze River in China. In the official obituary for Li Peng, who died aged 90, the Communist Party outwardly praised him. According to many China watchers, Li wanted to take on the project as a way to boost his profile and perhaps repair his reputation, since he had played a major role in engineering the bloody events at Tiananmen. An image comparing satellite photographs of the dam in 2009 and 2019, supposedly showing parts of the top bending, has been making the rounds on … The Three Gorges Dam is about 594 feet (181 meters) tall and 7,770 feet (2,335 meters) long. The comparison clearly shows that the dam has warped during those 10 years, which suggests serious structural weakness. Note the huge red mobile cranes on the top which are about three stories high. It is because they are worried about flooding, no, collapse. ‘Nothing is off the Table’, Research Reveals How Teeth Functioned and Evolved in Giant Mega-Sharks, Copyright Policy and Infringement Notification. Photo: NASA Earth Observatory / Joshua Stevens. 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