BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese meteorologists on Friday denied that the Three Gorges Project was linked to the severe drought, the worst in 50 years, that is ravaging western areas of China.

    Dong Wenjie, director of the climate research center under the China Meteorological Administration, said that there is no relation between the current drought and the Three Gorges Project, China's largest hydro-power project.

    The global greenhouse effect is the chief reason for droughts, especially in upper latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere, he said. China's Chongqing Municipality and Sichuan Province, the worst-hit areas, are located in these regions.

    According to the expert, the global greenhouse effect will provoke rising temperatures, abnormal climate change and severe drought as well as a series of social problems, such as drought-triggered poverty.

    The direct reason of the drought in western China is the impact by abnormal air circumfluence over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the expert said.

    Caused by booming human activities, deforestation and industrial projects in urban areas, the heat island effect around big cities also play a role in forming broiling weather and rising temperature.

    The heat island effect around Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, and the metropolis of Chongqing partly led to a dry summer and lack of rainfall in the area, the expert noted.

    According to experts of meteorological stations of Sichuan and Chongqing, the constant typhoons, which landed coastal areas in southern and eastern China this summer, have prevented the entry of cold air fronts into the Sichuan Basin.

    Without cold air, the basin is covered merely by high-pressure currents and has no condition to produce rainfall, experts said. The dry weather over the basin will continue until Aug. 20 due to lack of moisture in air currents.

    The Three Gorges Project will not produce any negative influence on local atmosphere, said Liu De, director of Chongqing municipal meteorological station.

    On the contrary, humidity around the Three Gorges area will be enhanced by the reservoir water, which will help with drought relief, Liu said.

    Chongqing has had no rain for more than 70 consecutive days and two-thirds of its rivers have dried up. The mercury has been lingering above 35 degrees Celsius over the past month in the municipality and the thermometer hit record 42 degrees in the past week.

    Besides western areas, the severe drought is also hitting central and northeastern Chinese regions.

    The Three Gorges reservoir, covering an area of 1,084 sq km, is ready to raise its water-holding level to 156 meters from the preset mark of 135 meters, which has been maintained since the reservoir began to store water in June 2003. Enditem