Abstract
The dynamics of surface water play a crucial role in the hydrological cycle and are sensitive to climate change and anthropogenic activities, especially for the agricultural zone. As one of the most populous areas in China’s river basins, the surface water in the Huai River Basin has significant impacts on agricultural plants, ecological balance, and socioeconomic development. However, it is unclear how water areas responded to climate change and anthropogenic water exploitation in the past decades. To understand the changes in water surface areas in the Huai River Basin, this study used the available 16,760 scenes Landsat TM, ETM+, and OLI images in this region from 1989 to 2017 and processed the data on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. The vegetation index and water index were used to quantify the spatiotemporal variability of the surface water area changes over the years. The major results include: (1) The maximum area, the average area, and the seasonal variation of surface water in the Huai River Basin showed a downward trend in the past 29 years, and the year-long surface water areas showed a slight upward trend; (2) the surface water area was positively correlated with precipitation (p < 0.05), but was negatively correlated with the temperature and evapotranspiration; (3) the changes of the total area of water bodies were mainly determined by the 216 larger water bodies (>10 km2). Understanding the variations in water body areas and the controlling factors could support the designation and implementation of sustainable water management practices in agricultural, industrial, and domestic usages.
Highlights
The water resources are vital to human economic prosperity, production development, the maintenance of ecosystem functions, and the promotion of sustainable development [1]
According to the 2016 Huai River Water Resources Bulletin, the surface water resource supply in the Huai River Basin accounts for 74.6% of the total water supply of various water supply projects
This study adopted an integrated approach by combining the vegetation index and the water index to quantify the spatiotemporal variability of surface water bodies in the Huai River Basin during 1989–2017 from muti-temporal Landsat TM, ETM+ and OLI imagery based on Google Earth Engine (GEE)
Summary
The water resources are vital to human economic prosperity, production development, the maintenance of ecosystem functions, and the promotion of sustainable development [1]. Climate change can have a dramatic impact on interannual and intra-annual variations of surface waters, which can have a profound influence on human society and ecosystems [2,3]. China and the rest of the world have to cope with the impacts of climate change on water resources and agricultural production [4]. The temporal and spatial variation characteristics of surface waters need to be accurately mapped to ensure the sustainable economic and social development of the river basin and the stability of the ecosystem
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