An improved method for mapping tidal waterways based on remotely sensed waterlines: A case study in the Yellow River Delta, China

Abstract

Tidal waterways perform as the paths through which seawater invades. Their spatial-temporal variation with the shift in Yellow River’s route requires the accurate measurement of their status. Visual interpretation for delineating tidal waterways is inefficient due to a substantial amount of work. Buffer analysis provides an alternative to visual interpretation. However, it is difficult to use the buffer distance threshold to identify tidal waterways from other freshwater bodies. In this study, we present a straightforward method for mapping tidal waterways. First, we adopted the normalized difference water body index (NDWI) to extract water bodies. Waterlines were subsequently delineated based on a morphological opening filter with a kernel of 9 × 9. Finally, tidal waterways were mapped based on the proposed topological relation in ArcGIS. We showed the utility of this approach by mapping tidal waterways in the Yellow River Delta, China. The proposed method enables tidal waterways be mapped precisely and was replicable and universal in other similar studies.