TY - JOUR
T1 - Detecting Streamflow in Dryland Rivers Using CubeSats
AU - Wang, Zhaocheng
AU - Vivoni, Enrique R.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the support of this work by ADEQ and the NASA Commercial Satellite Program (Determining Streamflow Regimes from Commercial Smallsat Data in Arid and Semiarid Regions, 80NSSC21K1154). PlanetScope imagery was made available through the Planet Incubator Program at Arizona State University and the Smallsat Data Explore Application (https://csdap.earthdata.nasa.gov), part of the NASA Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition Program. We appreciate the advice, input, and data provided by staff from ADEQ (Patrice Spindler, Meghan Smart, Cody Maynard, and Hans Huth). We also thank David Knapp, Ruijie Zeng, and Peng Fu for their insightful suggestions during an early stage of this work. We appreciate two reviewers for their feedback on an earlier version of the manuscript.
Funding Information:
We thank the support of this work by ADEQ and the NASA Commercial Satellite Program (Determining Streamflow Regimes from Commercial Smallsat Data in Arid and Semiarid Regions, 80NSSC21K1154). PlanetScope imagery was made available through the Planet Incubator Program at Arizona State University and the Smallsat Data Explore Application ( https://csdap.earthdata.nasa.gov ), part of the NASA Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition Program. We appreciate the advice, input, and data provided by staff from ADEQ (Patrice Spindler, Meghan Smart, Cody Maynard, and Hans Huth). We also thank David Knapp, Ruijie Zeng, and Peng Fu for their insightful suggestions during an early stage of this work. We appreciate two reviewers for their feedback on an earlier version of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. The Authors.
PY - 2022/8/16
Y1 - 2022/8/16
N2 - Determining the flow regime of non-perennial rivers is critical in hydrology. In this study, we developed a new approach using CubeSat imagery to detect streamflow presence using differences in surface reflectance for areas within and outside of a river reach. We calibrated the approach with streamflow records in the Hassayampa River of Arizona over 3 years (2019–2021), finding good agreement in the annual fractions of flowing days at stream gages (R2 = 0.82, p < 0.0001). Subsequently, annual fractions of flowing days were derived at 90 m intervals along the Hassayampa River, finding that 12% of reaches were classified as intermittent, with the remaining as ephemeral. Using a Hovmöller diagram, streamflow presence was visualized in unprecedented spatiotemporal detail, allowing estimates of daily fraction of flowing channel and annual fractions of flowing days. This new tool opens avenues for detecting streamflow and studying hydrological and biogeochemical processes dependent on water presence in drylands.
AB - Determining the flow regime of non-perennial rivers is critical in hydrology. In this study, we developed a new approach using CubeSat imagery to detect streamflow presence using differences in surface reflectance for areas within and outside of a river reach. We calibrated the approach with streamflow records in the Hassayampa River of Arizona over 3 years (2019–2021), finding good agreement in the annual fractions of flowing days at stream gages (R2 = 0.82, p < 0.0001). Subsequently, annual fractions of flowing days were derived at 90 m intervals along the Hassayampa River, finding that 12% of reaches were classified as intermittent, with the remaining as ephemeral. Using a Hovmöller diagram, streamflow presence was visualized in unprecedented spatiotemporal detail, allowing estimates of daily fraction of flowing channel and annual fractions of flowing days. This new tool opens avenues for detecting streamflow and studying hydrological and biogeochemical processes dependent on water presence in drylands.
KW - arid and semiarid regions
KW - commercial satellites
KW - near infrared band
KW - non-perennial rivers
KW - streamflow regime
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U2 - 10.1029/2022GL098729
DO - 10.1029/2022GL098729
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85135952207
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 49
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 15
M1 - e2022GL098729
ER -