Three Gorges Dam, China (2009)

The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, the world’s largest dam, was completed in 2006. The river is filling up its valley behind the dam to form a narrow reservoir extending more than 600 kilometers in central China.

The main objective for the dam is to supply water for the largest hydroelectric plant in the world and to help control the devastating floods that plague the lowlands downstream from the dam. The reservoir will flood 13 cities, more than 1300 villages, and caused in the relocation of 1.2 million people.

Credit: Astronaut photograph ISS019-E-14473 was acquired on 15 April 2009 with a Nikon D2X digital camera fitted with a 400 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS [International Space Station] Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 19 crew [source]

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