Figure 3. Sea level GRD fingerprints over various time periods showing the relative sea level change as a result of reservoir construction including seepage. In each plot, the color bar is scaled to the maximum sea level fall. (a) Combined fingerprint of all reservoirs in the GRanD database (1900 – 2011), including seepage. (b) Fingerprint of all water impounded in the decade 1970 – 1979, a period of prolific dam construction. (c) Fingerprint of all water impounded during the year 1955.
The GRD fingerprints for the future construction from the database of Zarfl et al . (2015) are shown in Fig. 4. The global signal (Fig. 4a) shows a markedly different geographic distribution than the GRanD database (Fig. 3a), notably in northern South America and Southeast Asia.