Sensing images for assessing the minimum ecological flux by automatically extracting river surface width

Abstract

Global warming and economic development have intensified the evaporation and exploitation of river waters, resulting in reduced global river runoff. In minimum ecological flux management, objective determination of the minimum ecological flux and evaluation of whether a river complies with standards are urgently required. Satellite remote sensing allows for rapid, large-scale, and dynamic monitoring. Herein, the Tangmazhai cross-section of the Taizi River was analyzed using the Chinese Gaofen (GF) series satellite that comprises panchromatic multi-spectral sensors and the Sentinel-2 multi-spectral images to automatically extract the water surface width. We applied the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI)-Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Technique Algorithm (ISODATA) to 225 cloudless scenes from January 2015 to November 2019. We proposed a method to evaluate the minimum ecological flux using water surface width. The river surface width at this location increased from January 2015 to November 2019, and all widths exceeded the minimum river surface water width for the month. The degree of the minimum ecological flux guarantee was determined to be satisfactory. Because there are less clouds and rain in the North China than South China, our results may be used for evaluating the degree of minimum ecological flux guarantee of many river sections in the north China through monthly monitoring.