Mapping and characterization of inland wetlands using remote sensing and GIS

Sustainable management of wetland ecosystem is necessary as it serves the important functions such as food storage, water quality maintenance and providing habitat for different species of wildlife. Hence, an inventory of wetlands in any given area is a pre-requisite for their conservation and management. A study has been carried out to delineate the wetlands of east Champaran district of Bihar, India, using IRS ID LISS III data. The data for the pre and post monsoon seasons have been analysed and the wetlands have been qualitatively characterized based on the turbidity and aquatic vegetation status. The extent of water logging problem in the study area was inferred from the seasonal variation of waterspread during both the seasons. The three categories of wetlands (ponds/lakes, water logged areas and oxbow lakes) have been identified. From the analysis, it has been observed that the inland wetlands constitute 2.7% of the study area, of which 1.8% is subjected to water logging. Thus, this study highlights the usefulness of remotely sensed data for wetland mapping, seasonal monitoring and characterization.     

Moraine-Dammed Lakes study in the chenab and The Satluj River Basins using IRS data

Moraine-dammed lakes are normally formed near glacier terminus. These lakes can burst due to excessive melting and can cause floods in the valleys. Many such floods have been reported in the Himalayas and other parts of the World. In this paper, an inventory of these lakes in the Satluj and the Chenab basins has been reported. During the investigation, 22 lakes in the Satluj and 31 lakes in the Chenab basin were mapped. In the Chenab basin, two lakes are of very large size, their areal extent is 105 and 55 ha, located in toposheet number 52 HI 1 and 52H02, respectively. These lakes were selected for detail monitoring. The lake near the Geepang glacier, is located in toposheet number 52H 02 and its area was 27 ha in 1976. Using the satellite data, areal extent of the lake was monitored. The lake area was almost doubled to 55 ha in 2001. This suggested that, lake size is constantly increasing and it can cause outburst flood. The maximum possible depth of lake was estimated by taking the average difference of maximum and minimum height of moraine dam from the Survey of India toposheet. By considering the average depth, the volume of the lake water and the instantaneous discharge of 350 mVsec were estimated. This is large discharge for a small stream like the Geepang Gath and it can damage many civilian and defense establishments. Therefore, further detail field investigations of this lake are needed to assess threat potential and to develop strategy to avoid this flash flood.     

A geospatial study of the drought impact on surface water reservoirs: study cases from Texas,USA

Satellite images have been used historically to measure and monitor fluctuations in the surface water reservoirs. This study integrates remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies to investigate the impact of drought on 10 selected surface water reservoirs in San Angelo and Dallas, Texas. Oscillations in summer and winter months throughout the 2005–2016 period were assessed using multispectral images from Landsat-5, ?7, and ?8, and changes in the reservoirs were characterized and correlated against local climate data of each reservoir. For quantitative comparisons of the time-series measurements, a robust density slicing approach was employed to classify the range of values of the raster cells in the near-infrared band of Landsat images for each lake into three desired classes (deep water, shallow water, and dry area) based on the natural breaks inherent in the dataset. Statistical analysis shows that the overall accuracy of the classification is about 94%, which demonstrates the efficiency of the density slicer to accurately estimate surface water area changes from an individual Landsat band. Shrinkage in the surface water area over the study period reveals the concrete impact that the drought along with other factors have on the 10 selected lakes. The San Angelo lakes located in west central Texas experienced a nearly consistent pattern of change during most of the study period; whereas the Dallas lakes in northeast Texas followed the oscillating pattern of drought and correlated closely to the local conditions. Shockingly, the extreme drought caused complete vanishing of several lakes, and consequently Texas had to remove them from its recreational plans. Our new findings can certainly help with the water resource management in Texas and our study approach can be adapted for monitoring lake oscillations in other areas across the world. This geospatial study demonstrates the societal benefits from incorporating remote sensing and GIS in investigating geo-environmental problems associated with severe climate changes.     

Loktak notified Wetland ecosystem and its catchment

Conservation of wetland is considered paramount in view of its ecological significance. The availability of reliable and up-to-date data on seasonal water spread, tropic state of wetland and bio-physical parameters besides the landuse/cover of the catchment area is a prerequisite for ‘wise use’ of any wetland ecosystem. The present study is carried out to identify the above parameters of Loktak notified wetland through visual interpretation of 1RS IA/IB LISS II FCC of 1990 and 1994/95. It indicates that the water spread of the lake is showing a declining trend and an increasing trend for aquatic vegetation. In 1990 post-monsoon data water spread was 15441 ha which become 11166 ha in October 1994. The extent of water spread further decreases by pre-monsoon season and was found to be 7875 ha in the IRS LISS II data of March 1995. Like-wise area under aquatic vegetation and associated marshy/ swamps was 10499 ha in October 1990 and 13506 ha in October 1994. Catchment of Loktak lake (104872 ha) is highly degraded and forest covers only 7205 ha area. Agriculture is the main land use (35576 ha) in the catchment and substantial area is also under land with or without scrub. Thus, there is a need to rehabilitate the catchment by way of planting trees for reducing silt load in the Loktak lake and ensuring its ‘wise use’.     

咸海面积萎缩对区域地表温度的影响

水体对区域气候调节起着极其重要的作用,近几十年间咸海的水位剧烈下降和湖泊面积不断萎缩,势必会对咸海地区的气候产生重要影响,分析咸海地区地表温度的变化对于研究水体与其周边地区地表温度的关系具有重要意义。利用咸海地区中分辨率成像光谱仪（moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer,MODIS）地表温度产品MOD11A2,基于空间分析法研究咸海面积变化对区域地表温度的影响和作用。结果表明:（1）相比于咸海表面温度,研究区内分别有93%和69%的研究区域日间和夜间地表温度均有上升的变化趋势;（2）咸海对区域地表温度直接影响范围大致在沿湖边界30 km的范围内;（3）随着咸海面积的快速萎缩,各土地覆盖类型区域与咸海的地表温差均呈现上升的变化趋势,咸海的区域温度调节功能逐渐减弱。     

中国湖泊分布与变化：全国尺度遥感监测研究进展与新编目

湖泊提供重要的生产生活用水,在维系生态安全方面发挥显著的价值。中国地理环境复杂多样,湖泊类型各异,不同湖区间的湖泊时空变化特征及驱动机制复杂。两次全国湖泊调查是国家尺度的湖泊变化监测的开创性工作,近年来伴随遥感数据源的海量积累和湖泊遥感提取方法的快速发展,大尺度湖泊水体变化遥感监测研究取得了长足的发展。然而,由于人工判读、湖泊类型判别依据和遥感数据源时相的差异,湖泊水体遥感提取结果及面积估算存在不同程度的出入。首先,本文总结了现有全国尺度湖泊监测研究的遥感数据源、方法和结果,分析了不同研究分析结果差异的可能原因。其次,本文基于1980s—2010s时段Landsat影像制图的湖泊水淹频率数据集的最大水域范围信息,提取并生成了全国湖泊新编目,以其作为该时段内湖泊判定和水体变化监测空间约束的统一参照,避免了因遥感数据时相与年际、年内湖泊水域范围波动对遥感提取结果及湖泊面积计算带来的差异。最后,本文从湖泊水淹范围频度的统计角度,初次提出了可体现湖泊面积年内与年际变化情况的统计指标——概率等效面积,用于监测和指示湖泊水域动态。结果表明,近30年来,中国有3741个最大水域范围大于1 km²的湖泊,总面积约93723 km²,其中青藏高原湖区的湖泊数量约占全国三分之一,总面积超过了全国的一半。全国湖泊总面积呈显著上升趋势,不同湖区的变化趋势差异明显:青藏高原湖区和新疆湖区湖泊面积显著上升,东部平原湖区、内蒙古高原湖区和云贵高原湖区显著下降,东北平原与山地湖区波动式变化、趋势不显著。研究结果总体表明中国湖泊水资源的时空不平衡状况在加剧。     

Spatiotemporal change patterns of urban lakes in China’s major cities between 1990 and 2015

China has experienced unprecedented urbanization in the past decades, resulting in dramatic changes in the physical, limnological, and hydrological characteristics of lakes in urban landscapes. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics in distribution and abundance of urban lakes in China remain poorly understood. Here, we characterized the spatiotemporal change patterns of urban lakes in China’s major cities between 1990 and 2015 using remote-sensing data and landscape metrics. The results showed that the urban lake landscape patterns have experienced drastic changes over the past 25 years. The total surface area of the urban lakes has decreased by 17,620.02?ha, a decrease of 24.22%, with a significant increase in the landscape fragmentation and a reduction in shape complexity. We defined three lake-shrinkage types and found that vanishment was the most common lake-shrinkage pattern, followed by edge-shrinkage and tunneling in terms of lake area. Moreover, we also found that urban sprawl was the dominant driver of the lake shrinkage, accounting for 67.89% of the total area loss, and the transition from lakes to cropland was also an important factor (19.86%). This study has potential for providing critical baseline information for government decision-making in lake resources management and urban landscape design.     

2000年—2020年中国大型湖泊月平均透明度遥感监测数据集

湖泊水体透明度是湖泊水环境状况的综合表征,与多种水质参数关系密切,对湖泊水环境监测具有重要意义.本文的目的 是介绍一种中国大型湖泊(＞20 km2)月平均透明度遥感监测数据集的生成流程、主要特征和应用价值.数据集生产方法是将Liu等(2020)构建的透明度遥感算法应用于GEE (Google Earth Engine)...     

Remote sensing of alpine lake water environment changes on the Tibetan Plateau and surroundings: A review

Alpine lakes on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are key indicators of climate change and climate variability. The increasing availability of remote sensing techniques with appropriate spatiotemporal resolutions, broad coverage and low costs allows for effective monitoring lake changes on the TP and surroundings and understanding climate change impacts, particularly in remote and inaccessible areas where there are lack of in situ observations. This paper firstly introduces characteristics of Tibetan lakes, and outlines available satellite observation platforms and different remote sensing water-body extraction algorithms. Then, this paper reviews advances in applying remote sensing methods for various lake environment monitoring, including lake surface extent and water level, glacial lake and potential outburst floods, lake ice phenology, geological or geomorphologic evidences of lake basins, with a focus on the trends and magnitudes of lake area and water-level change and their spatially and temporally heterogeneous patterns. Finally we discuss current uncertainties or accuracy of detecting lake area and water-level changes from multi-source satellite data and on-going challenges in mapping characteristics of glacial lakes using remote sensing. Based on previous studies on the relationship between lake variation and climate change, it is inferred that the climate-driven mechanisms of lake variations on the TP still remain unclear and require further research.     

青藏高原湖泊面积、水位与水量变化遥感监测研究进展

青藏高原湖泊数量多、分布广、所占面积大,是亚洲水塔的重要组成部分,其受到人类活动的干扰较少,是理解高原生态环境变化机理的钥匙.青藏高原湖泊是气候变化敏感的指示器,在全球快速变暖背景下其对气候变化的响应如何?本研究基于多源遥感数据监测结果,系统地总结了青藏高原湖泊(大于1 km2)在过去近50 a(1976年-2018年...     

2003-2018年Byrd冰川流域冰下湖活动及水文联系--多源卫星测高数据监测结果分析

南极冰盖下流动水、活跃冰下湖的活动对冰动力学、接地线稳定性和冰盖物质平衡都有重要影响。本文结合ICESat和CryoSat-2测高卫星数据集,分别运用重复轨道法和差分DEM法,对Byrd冰川流域17个活跃冰下湖进行长达16年的监测,并计算其平均高程和平均水量变化,总结活跃冰下湖的水文特征。根据水势方程获取了此区域的冰下排水路径图,结合冰下湖的位置和活动情况分析其相互间的水文联系。结果表明Byrd冰川流域多个活跃冰下湖间存在明显的水文联系:Byrd1和Byrd2冰下湖具有以2~3年为周期的储排水活动规律,并且Byrd1冰下湖主要受到上游Byrd2冰下湖活动的影响;Byrds9和Byrds14分别受到上游Byrds11和Byrds15冰下湖排水的补充,使湖水水量持续上升。     

太湖流域典型中小湖群水资源利用及动态变化的遥感调查与分析

近年来太湖流域中小型湖群的网围水产养殖业带来了十分可观的经济效益，挑、涌湖经遥感分析网围养殖面积占总湖水面积75％以上，属超密度网围。超密度网围养殖的负面效应是湖水营养盐急剧增高，水草资源大幅度减少，从而破坏了湖泊的生态平衡，恶化了湖水环境。采用15年以来的陆地卫星影像结合航空数据，对研究区的水资源利用类型、空间分布及变化状况进行了分析解译和目标分类，结合佃技术，对各类型进行了面积量算，推算了网围养殖密度，同时遥感分析了养殖水域环境和水草资源的变化，并展开了野外实地调查验证。     

一种基于动态多尺度聚类的湖泊选取方法

当前湖泊选取方法多采用整体选取的形式,且难以兼顾湖泊的属性特征、分布特征和拓扑特征。通过分析和模仿制图专家人工选取湖泊的认知行为和过程,提出一种顾及分布特征和拓扑特征保持的基于动态多尺度聚类的湖泊选取方法。首先设置面积阈值以选取大面积湖泊,然后通过缓冲区选取"孤立"湖泊,接下来对湖泊群进行动态多尺度聚类来划分出湖泊分布密度不同的区域,对不同区域按开方根规律确定选取数量指标并采用不同选取策略,其中对包含湖泊数量较多的区域依据由主成分分析法定量计算出的重要性综合评价进行迭代选取,直至达到选取数量指标。实验对比表明,该方法在综合考虑重要性的前提下,有效地保持了选取前后湖泊群的形态结构和密度对比。     

Updated Inventory of Glacial Lakes in Teesta Basin Using Remote Sensing Data for Use in GLOF Risk Assessment

Detailed inventory of glacial lakes in a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) prone area is vital for disaster mitigation. Availability of cheaper high resolution satellite data from Indian remote sensing satellites enables us to create up-to-date inventory for use in prioritisation of glacial lakes for GLOF risk assessment. Earlier inventories show presence of more glacial lakes in Brahmaputra basin in Indian Himalaya. Teesta River is one of the tributary of Brahmaputra and previous studies have shown that the inventory of glacial lakes in Teesta basin varies from 143 to 320. In the present study, the inventory carried out using satellite data of years 2000, 2007 and 2014 show presence of 301 (25.789 km²), 302 (26.081 km²) and 644 (29.706 km²) glacial lakes in Teesta basin respectively. The steep increase in number of lakes in the latest inventory is primarily due to the finer spatial resolution of satellite data used. Analysis of water spread area of glacial lakes at different altitudes shows that most of the lakes in the higher altitudes are small in size. It is observed that more than 66% of lakes are in the altitude beyond 4500 m and of size less than 50,000 sqm (5 ha). Out of 301 glacial lakes inventoried during 2000, water spread area of 6 lakes have decreased in 2014 and 31 lakes have shown increase in area. Out of these 31 lakes, 17 lakes are classified as end moraine dammed lakes and among them, 14 are located in Upper Teesta sub-basin and in higher altitudes (beyond 5000 m). The prioritisation of these lakes for GLOF risk needs to be carried out with detailed field investigation.     

浅水湖泊水生植被遥感监测研究进展

在浅水湖泊中,水生植物具有净化水质、抑制藻类、提供鱼类食物和栖息环境等生态功能,同时,其过度扩张也会加速湖泊淤浅和沼泽化、引起湖泊二次污染等环境负效应.实时动态地掌握湖泊水生植被类群和种群的空间分布及其面积、生物量等指标信息,对湖泊生态修复和评估、水生植被恢复和管理等具有重要现实意义.遥感技术的大面积、实时、动态等特点...     

利用卫星测高监测贝加尔湖湖面高变化

以贝加尔湖为例,利用Jason-2测高卫星4年(2008~2012)GDR数据,经过误差改正与数据编辑,通过分析贝加尔湖月水位异常时间序列,得到了贝加尔湖湖面高变化的季节性规律;通过分析贝加尔湖半年水位异常时间序列,得出了贝加尔湖湖面高变化的周期为1年;计算结果表明,利用卫星测高技术对内陆湖泊湖面高变化进行监测具有一定的可行性。     

Deducing Rice Crop Dynamics and Cultural Types of Bangladesh Using Geospatial Techniques

Rice crop occupies an important aspect of food security and also contributes to global warming via GHGs emission. Characterizing rice crop using spatial technologies holds the key for addressing issues of global warming and food security as different rice ecosystems respond differently to the changed climatic conditions. Remote sensing has become an important tool for assessing seasonal vegetation dynamics at regional and global scale. Bangladesh is one of the major rice growing countries in South Asia. In present study we have used remote sensing data along with GIS and ancillary map inputs in combination to derive seasonal rice maps, rice phenology and rice cultural types of Bangladesh. The SPOT VGT S10 NDVI data spanning Aus, Aman and Boro crop season (1^st May 2008 to 30^th April 2009) were used, first for generating the non-agriculture mask through ISODATA clustering and then to generate seasonal rice maps during second classification. The spectral rice profiles were modelled and phenological parameters were derived. NDVI growth profiles were modelled and crop calendar was derived. To segregate the rice cultural types of Bangladesh into IPCC rice categories, we used elevation, irrigated area, interpolated rainfall maps and flood map through logical modelling in GIS. The results indicated that the remote sensing derived rice area was 9.99 million ha as against the reported area of 11.28 million ha. The wet and dry seasons accounted for 64% and 36 % of the rice area, respectively. The flood prone, drought prone and deep water categories account for 7.5%, 5.56% and 2.03%, respectively. The novelty of current findings lies in the spatial outcome in form of seasonal and rice cultural type maps of Bangladesh which are helpful for variety of applications.     

Remotely sensed surface temperature variation of an inland saline lake over the central Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Research on surface water temperature (SWT) variations in large lakes over the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) has been limited by lack of in situ measurements. By taking advantage of the increased availability of remotely sensed observations, this study investigated SWT variation of Siling Co in central QTP by processing complete MODIS Land surface temperature (LST) images over the lake covering from 2001 to 2013. The temporal (diurnal, intra-annul and inter-annul) variations of Siling Co SWT as well as the spatial patterns were analyzed. The results show that on average from late December to mid-April the lake is in a mixing state of water and ice and drastic diurnal temperature differences occur, especially along the shallow shoreline areas. The extent of spatial variations in monthly SWT ranges from 1.25 °C to 3.5 °C, and particularly large at nighttime and in winter months. The spatial patterns of annual average SWT were likely impacted by the cooling effect of river inflow from the west and east side of the lake. The annual cycle of spatial pattern of SWT is characterized by seasonal reversions between the shallow littoral regions and deep parts due to different heat capacity. Compared to the deep regions, the littoral shallow shoreline areas warms up quickly in spring and summer, and cool down drastically in autumn and winter, showing large diurnal and seasonal variation amplitudes of SWT. Two cold belt zones in the western and eastern side of the lake and warm patches along the southwestern and northeastern shorelines are shaped by the combined effects of the lakebed topography and river runoff. Overall, the lake-averaged SWT increased at a rate of 0.26 °C/decade during 2001–2013. Faster increase of temperature was found at nighttime (0.34 °C/decade) and in winter and spring, consistent with the asymmetric warming pattern over land areas reported in prior studies. The rate of temperature increase over Siling Co is remarkably lower than that over Bangoin station, which is probably attributable to the large heat capacity of water and partly reflects the sensitive of alpine saltwater lake to climate change.     

基于多时相图谱的青藏高原湖泊变化检测研究

利用多期遥感影像,对青藏高原南羌塘地区纳木错湖泊流域北部进行解译,提取了多时相地学信息图谱,发现1992-2005年间,湖泊面积扩张且整体变化呈加快趋势。分析了研究区内典型湖泊的变化特征,确定了稳定增加的湖泊面积。通过多时相地学信息图谱检测的变化信息与区内多年气象数据的复合分析,探讨了湖泊变化与气候变化的响应关系。     

Monitoring dual-season hydrological dynamics of seasonally flooded wetlands in the lower reach of Mayurakshi River,Eastern India

The seasonally flooded wetlands are often neglected due to their ephemeral and erratic appearance and small size, however, their hydro-ecological importance, socio-economic values are equivalent to the permanent wetlands. Using dual-season Landsat multi-spectral imagery, this study highlights a comprehensive monitoring of the hydrological dynamics of wetlands in the lower reach of the Mayurakshi River at a 14-year temporal resolution with the seasonal mode of 1987–2014 time frames. Our results demonstrate the seasonal and periodic hydrological variability of water presence frequency (WPF) in six wetland complexes defined for this study. The Hijal, Ghambira and Maldah wetland complexes are highly affected by the change of WPF, while Dwarka complex is relatively stable. The assessment of WPF change analysis showed that the method is proficient in identifying stable and physically vulnerable wetland patches and absolute loss of wetland inundation frequency resulting from various anthropogenic causes like regulation of river, dry farming practices and other integrated developmental works. The outcome of our study provides a robust basis for the fundamental hydrological and ecological studies and helpful for the conservation and management of seasonally flooded wetland resources in the tropical monsoon climate.