High-Resolution Surface Water Classifications of the Xingu River, Brazil, Pre and Post Operationalization of the Belo Monte Hydropower Complex

Margaret Kalacska,J Pablo Arroyo-Mora,Leandro Sousa,Oliver Lucanus

doi:10.3390/data5030075

Abstract

We describe a new high spatial resolution surface water classification dataset generated for the Xingu river, Brazil, from its confluence with the Iriri river to the Pimental dam prior to construction of the Belo Monte hydropower complex, and after its operationalization. This river is well-known for its exceptionally high diversity and endemism in ichthyofauna. Pre-existing datasets generated from moderate resolution satellite imagery (e.g., 30 m) do not adequately capture the extent of the river. Accurate measurements of water extent are important for a range of applications utilizing surface water data, including greenhouse gas emission estimation, land cover change mapping, and habitat loss/change estimates, among others. We generated the new classifications from RapidEye imagery (5 m pixel size) for 2011 and PlanteScope imagery (3 m pixel size) for 2019 using a Geographic Object Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) approach.

Highlights

The many dams built over the last few decades have been shown to lead to substantial losses of natural habitats and negative environmental effects on one of the most diverse biomes on the planet [6,7]
Efforts to study the impacts of the large scale landscape changes brought about by river impoundment and dam construction have been carried out for the Xingu and other rivers in the Amazon, but they rely primarily on pre-construction environmental impact assessments, data sources that may be out of date, or do not have the necessary spatial resolution to accurately document the changes (e.g., [12,13])
The 2011 dataset is a classification of 10 RapidEye scenes acquired on 4 July (Figure 1A, Table 1)

Summary

The Xingu River, the fourth largest tributary of the Amazon basin, has exceptionally high ichthyological diversity, with more than 600 species of fish, including many endangered fishes, such as the zebra pleco (Hypancistrus zebra) [1,2,3]. It has been in the international spotlight over a high-profile land conflict since the mid-1970s: the construction of the hydroelectric complex of Belo Monte [4,5]. InclFe, tahreiinntgakeofforvtehegceatnaaltciaonnbefsreoenmonthe islands can be seen in 2019 in comthepeaasrteirsnosnidetoof t2h0e 1im1ag(eBfr,Com).20T19h.

Methods

Scene ID

Artificial reservoir