Delineation of reservoirs using remote sensing and their storage estimate: an example of the Yellow River basin, China (pages 1215–1229)

摘要

Reservoirs are an integral component of water resources planning and management. Periodic and accurate assessment of thenwater storage change in reservoirs is an extraordinarily important aspect for better watershed management and water resourcesndevelopment. In view of the shortcomings of conventional approaches in locating reservoirs’ spatial location and quantifyingntheir storage, the remote sensing technique has several advantages, either for a single reservoir or for a group of reservoirs.nThe satellite-based remote sensing data, encompassing spatial, spectral and temporal attributes, can provide high-resolutionnsynoptic and repetitive information with short time intervals on a large scale. Using remote sensing images in conjunction withnGoogle Earth and field check of representative reservoirs, the spatial distribution of constructed reservoirs in the Yellow Rivernbasin was delineated, and their storage volume and the residence time of the stored water were estimated. The results showednthat 2816 reservoirs were extracted from the images, accounting for 89D5% of the registered total. All large- and medium-sizednreservoirs were extracted while small reservoirs may not be extracted due to coarse resolution and cloud-cover shadows. Annempirical relationship between the extracted water surface area and the compiled storage capacity of representative reservoirsnwas developed. The water storage capacity was estimated to be 66D71 km3, about 92D7% of the total storage capacity reportednby the authority. Furthermore, the basin was divided into 10 sub-basins upon which the water’s residence time was analysed.nThe water discharge in the basin has been greatly regulated. The residence time has surged to 3D97 years in recent years,nranking the Yellow River in the top three of the list in terms of residence time and flow regulation among large river systemsnin the world. It is expected that it will be further extended in future owing to decreasing water discharge and increasingnreservoir storage capacity. Copyright  2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.