Open-Surface Water Bodies Dynamics Analysis in the Tarim River Basin (North-Western China), Based on Google Earth Engine Cloud Platform

Abstract

The Tarim River Basin (TRB), located in an arid region, is facing the challenge of increasing water pressure and uncertain impacts of climate change. Many water body identification methods have achieved good results in different application scenarios, but only a few for arid areas. An arid region water detection rule (ARWDR) was proposed by combining vegetation index and water index. Taking computing advantages of the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform, 56,284 Landsat 5/7/8 optical images in the TRB were used to detect open-surface water bodies and generated a 30-m annual water frequency map from 1992 to 2019. The interannual changes and trends of the water body area were analyzed and the impacts of climatic and anthropogenic drivers on open-surface water body area dynamics were examined. The results show that: (1) ARWDR is suitable for long-term and large-scale water body identification, especially suitable for arid areas lacking vegetation. (2) The permanent water area was 2093.63 km2 and the seasonal water area was 44,242.80 km2, accounting for 4.52% and 95.48% of the total open-surface water area of he TRB, respectively. (3) From 1992 to 2019, the permanent and seasonal water bodies of the TRB all showed an increasing trend, with obvious spatial heterogeneity. (4) Among the effects of human activities and climate change, precipitation has the largest impact on the water area, which can explain 65.3% of the change of water body area. Our findings provide valuable information for the entire TRB’s open-surface water resources planning and management.

Analysis of the Temporal Changes of Inland Ramsar Sites in Turkey Using Google Earth Engine

“…Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and Normalized Vegetation Index (NDVI) were applied to map the open-surface water from 1989 to 2019 in the GEE [47]. In the study conducted at the Tarim River Basin of China, 56284 Landsat scenes were used to determine the available surface area and generate a 30 m annual water frequency map from 1992 to 2019 [48]. Moreover, the maximal and minimal water extent in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2017 in the Middle Yangtze River Basin in China were calculated on the GEE platform by processing 2343 scenes of Landsat images [49].…”

An intra-annual 30-m dataset of small lakes of the Qilian Mountains for the period 1987–2020

“… 22 and Chen et al . 46 found that the accuracy of the MNE varies widely for different regions, and thus is not applicable for extracting water bodies in all regions. In particular, MNE is less effective in extracting water bodies in highland mountains 22 , 29 .…”

Long‐term and seasonal variation of open‐surface water bodies in the Yellow River Basin during 1990–2020

“…Open‐surface water bodies are water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds, and artificial reservoirs exposed at the earth's surface, excluding the ocean. Open‐surface water bodies are significant water sources that provide ecosystem services such as water supply and regulation, waste treatment, and recreation (Chen et al, 2020; Costanza et al, 1997; Deng et al, 2019; Jiao et al, 2021; Wood et al, 2011). However, climate change and anthropogenic activities have caused intensive global water changes that have led to spatial and temporal variations in open‐surface water bodies (Chen et al, 2019; Cooley et al, 2021; Dai, 2013; Deng et al, 2019; Immerzeel et al, 2010; Milly et al, 2005; Pekel et al, 2016).…”