Method for monitoring environmental flows with high spatial and temporal resolution satellite data

Monitoring environmental flows is crucial to maintaining the function and stability of river and lake ecosystems. However, current methods for monitoring environmental flows are expensive and ground based, and the accuracy of the results needs to be verified to evaluate the environmental flows. This evaluation is hampered by the problem of data shortages, such as hydrological and ecological data. In this study, a method for monitoring environmental flows is proposed using multisource high spatial and temporal resolution satellite data. A case study in the Yongding River Basin demonstrates that the method is feasible for monitoring the environmental flows of rivers in semiarid and arid areas. The results show that the environmental flows and months with large water discharges and shortages in the three control sections of the Yongding River Basin were different. Moreover, the downstream river width rarely met the environmental water demand, achieving this only for one period from 2017 to 2019 according to the three typical types of years (an average water year, a dry year, and an extremely dry year). This method and the results have applications in planning environmental flows and could improve the comprehensive management of the ecological environment in river basins.