Influence of Water and Sediment Regulation in the Yellow River on the Delta Wetland Ecosystem

From July in 2002 to June in 2008, seven times water and sediment regulation have been done to the Yellow River. During the periods of the regulation, the course of water and sediment takes great changes. The change of water and sediment conditions would inevitably have an impact on the ecosystem of the Yellow River delta. In order to evaluate the influence of water and sediment regulations on delta wetland objectively, in this paper, analyzed water and sediment changes in the Yellow River estuary before and after water and sediment regulations, and then calculated the amount of water recharge to the delta wetland with Modflow model, Finally, described the effect of water and sediment regulations on delta ecosystem with remote sensing images. This study shows that, water supply to the delta wetland is limited, and affected area is only near the river. Even though the delta wetland ecosystem has been improved to some extent after water and sediment regulation, however, the changing of the delta wetland ecosystem is still mainly affected by natural condition and other human activities.