High Spatiotemporal Resolution Monitoring of Water Body Dynamics in the Tibetan Plateau: An Innovative Method Based...

Area of Science:

• Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Remote Sensing
• Hydrology

Background:

• The Tibetan Plateau, a critical region for Asian water resources, faces significant surface water alterations due to global warming.
• Accurate spatiotemporal monitoring of surface water is essential for ecological conservation and sustainable water management.
• Existing satellite data, like MODIS, offer long time series but have spatial resolution limitations for detailed analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel method for generating high-resolution, dynamic monthly surface water abundance maps of the Tibetan Plateau.
• To accurately depict interannual and seasonal variations in surface water distribution from 2000 to 2023.
• To provide a more detailed and temporally resolved dataset for understanding surface water dynamics.

Main Methods:

• A dynamic endmember selection method utilizing phenological features was developed.
• Mixed pixel decomposition techniques were integrated with endmember selection.
• Monthly water abundance maps were generated for the Tibetan Plateau from 2000 to 2023.

Main Results:

• The generated monthly water abundance maps achieved an average accuracy of 95.3%.
• The new maps offer superior spatial detail and temporal resolution compared to existing products.
• Dynamic monitoring revealed a year-on-year increase in surface water area with a widening fluctuation range.

Conclusions:

• The developed method effectively enhances the detailed monitoring of surface water on the Tibetan Plateau.
• The high-resolution, high-temporal-resolution water abundance maps provide crucial data for ecological and water resource management.
• This study offers a new technical approach and scientific foundation for timely and accurate surface water change monitoring.