Study suggests hydroelectric dams causing greater impact on Amazon basin than thought
February 1, 2018 by Bob Yirka, Phys.org report
A team of researchers from the U.S. and multiple countries in South America has found that hydroelectric dams built in the Amazon river basin, which were built to meet the growing electricity demands in the region, are making more of an impact on the natural geography than previously thought. In their paper published on the open access site Science Advances, the group describes using data from satellites to learn more about the true impact of modern dam building.
As cities in South America grow, electrical needs grow along with them. In the Amazon basin, the most logical option for fulfilling those needs is hydroelectric dams. But what is the impact on the geography of all the new dams? As the authors note, little has been done to find out. To learn more, they obtained satellite images and studied them, looking for clues. Their analysis led to two important findings. The first was that there are many more hydroelectric plants in operation in the Amazon basin than have been reported through official channels. The other involved the impact that hydroelectric dams on areas downstream.
Read more at:
https://phys.org/news/2018-02-hydroelectric-greater-impact-amazon-basin.html#jCp
