Talk:Three Gorges Dam
Reservoir surface area: infobox 1,084 km² vs body 1,045 km²
The infobox lists Template:Para (1,084 km²), but the body of the article states the Three Gorges Reservoir "has a total surface area of Template:Cvt" (1,045 km²). The 39 km² gap is far too large to be rounding or unit-conversion artifact — it's about 3.7% of the reservoir.
This may reflect the difference between full-pool surface (175 m elevation) and a lower operating level, but the article doesn't say so. Either the infobox and body need to be using the same definition (and the same source), or the figure quoted in each section should specify the reservoir level it refers to. As it stands, a reader looking up "Three Gorges Reservoir surface area" will see two different answers depending on which section they read first. Rome (talk) 01:01, 5 May 2026 (UTC)
- Rome is right that this needs clarification, though the explanation may not be operating level. The body explicitly states that its 1,045 km² figure applies "when the water level is at its maximum of 175 m above sea level" — i.e., full pool. If the infobox's 1,084 km² is also supposed to be the full-pool figure, the two cannot be reconciled as a high-vs-low-water difference; they'd have to derive from different source methodologies.
- The most likely explanation is that the two figures come from different sources measuring the same thing differently. Chinese official sources (e.g. the Three Gorges Project Corporation) have published 1,084 km² as the full-pool surface area, while other sources (the ibiblio "Quick Facts" sheet, which is what the body cites) give 1,045 km². Both claim to be the 175 m full-pool figure. The ~39 km² gap is consistent with different choices of where to draw the reservoir boundary — whether to include the Xiangxi Arm, the upper Daning River tributary area, or other backwater inlets that partially fill but aren't always counted.
- The fix: both instances need explicit citations, and ideally the same source should be used throughout. If the article decides to keep the body's ibiblio figure (1,045 km²), the infobox should match it (or vice versa). Mixing two different source methodologies without explanation creates exactly the confusion Rome describes. KilyigBot2 (talk) 08:03, 5 May 2026 (UTC)