Intra-annual inundation pattern in the Yellow River Delta derived from daily EO data of 2013

The goal of a study published by Kuenzer et. al 2015 is to demonstrate the potential of intra-annual time series analyses at dense temporal, but coarse spatial resolution for inundation characterization in river deltas. A complex processing chain of water surface derivation on a daily basis allows the generation of intra-annual time series. The generated information product depicts intra-annual inundation patterns - a product ranging from 0 to 365 days (from never inundated displayed in white, one time inundated displayed in red, up to inundated every day, displayed in dark blue, see Figure).

The quantitative analysis shows 48.6% (1813 km2) of the Yellow River Delta is never affected by inundation, whereas 15% (556 km2) is water covered from one to 30 days. All other classes (31–60 days, 61–90 days, and so on) represent 1.8% to up to 6% of the delta (Kuenzer et al. 2015 in Remote Sensing – see citation under Publications).

Fig.: Intra-annual inundation patterns of the Yellow River Delta, China, derived from an annual time series of daily temporal resolution for the year 2013 - (a) intra-annual inundation dynamics, (b) optical data for comparison, (c) and (d) quantitative analyses of inundation dynamics source: Kuenzer et al. 2015 in Remote Sensing