EARTH · RIVERS & FLOODS · CHINA
Yangtze River Discharge
The latest reading on the Yangtze at Yichang, China — from the Copernicus GloFAS model, reporting river discharge (cubic metres per second). Asia’s longest river and the lifeline of China; the reading here sits just below the Three Gorges Dam.The figure below is live, shown with the time it was taken, and framed as a measurement of flow — never a flood verdict.
What this reading means
River dischargeis the volume of water passing this point each second, in cubic metres per second (m³/s) — the standard way hydrologists size a river. GloFAS estimates it by routing rainfall and snowmelt down the whole basin. On the probe, the Yangtze here read about 21,576 m³/s (very high flow); the live figure above will differ with the season. It is a measure of how big the river is running — not a statement that it is flooding, which depends on the river’s own banks downstream.
About this reading
The Yangtze’s discharge is estimated by the Copernicus Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS), served keyless via the Open-Meteo Flood API. The point used here is the river’s verified main-stem cell near Yichang, China— chosen so the reading tracks the trunk of the river rather than a side channel — and the model updates daily.
Nearby rivers
The closest rivers to the Yangtze— compare how much water each is moving.