Estimation of water storage changes in a tropical lake-floodplain system through remote sensing

Study region: Lake Urema and its floodplain in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique Study focus: Tropical lowland lake-floodplain systems are increasingly threatened by climate change effects and other human-induced pressures. Determining the effect of these pressures on the water balance is challeng...

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Main Authors: Thijs de Klein, Victor Bense, Syed Mustafa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-02-01
Series:Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581824005226
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author Thijs de Klein
Victor Bense
Syed Mustafa
author_facet Thijs de Klein
Victor Bense
Syed Mustafa
author_sort Thijs de Klein
collection DOAJ
description Study region: Lake Urema and its floodplain in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique Study focus: Tropical lowland lake-floodplain systems are increasingly threatened by climate change effects and other human-induced pressures. Determining the effect of these pressures on the water balance is challenging because of a lack of hydrological monitoring data, which impedes water management decisions. A collection of optical remote sensing and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) scenes is used in combination with supervised classification algorithms and topographical data to derive lake volumes for the period 1984–2023, which are analyzed for trends and correlation with satellite-derived climate data. New hydrological insights for the region: Although lake volumes show strong interannual variability, no significant historical trend is identified. A precipitation response time of approximately two months is observed, suggesting a considerable contribution of groundwater to the lake’s water balance. Minimum lake volumes found for the period 2014–2017 coincide with a prolonged period of below-average precipitation, indicating the effect of decreased groundwater recharge. Dry season lake volumes show weak correlation with cumulative precipitation in comparison to rainy season lake volumes, further indicating the importance of groundwater inflow for the dry season water balance. Results suggest that climate change effects and anthropogenic activities may have little short-term impact on the lake’s dry season volume, while altering groundwater recharge may have more significant long-term effects.
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spelling doaj-art-60c44ec9f34d408d83d3691d3349350e2025-01-22T05:42:20ZengElsevierJournal of Hydrology: Regional Studies2214-58182025-02-0157102173Estimation of water storage changes in a tropical lake-floodplain system through remote sensingThijs de Klein0Victor Bense1Syed Mustafa2Hydrology and Environmental Hydraulics Group, Wageningen University, P.O. box 47, Wageningen 6700 AA, the Netherlands; Resilience BV, Bevrijdingsstraat 38, Wageningen 6703 AA, the Netherlands; Corresponding author at: Hydrology and Environmental Hydraulics Group, Wageningen University, P.O. box 47, Wageningen 6700 AA, the Netherlands.Hydrology and Environmental Hydraulics Group, Wageningen University, P.O. box 47, Wageningen 6700 AA, the NetherlandsHydrology and Environmental Hydraulics Group, Wageningen University, P.O. box 47, Wageningen 6700 AA, the NetherlandsStudy region: Lake Urema and its floodplain in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique Study focus: Tropical lowland lake-floodplain systems are increasingly threatened by climate change effects and other human-induced pressures. Determining the effect of these pressures on the water balance is challenging because of a lack of hydrological monitoring data, which impedes water management decisions. A collection of optical remote sensing and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) scenes is used in combination with supervised classification algorithms and topographical data to derive lake volumes for the period 1984–2023, which are analyzed for trends and correlation with satellite-derived climate data. New hydrological insights for the region: Although lake volumes show strong interannual variability, no significant historical trend is identified. A precipitation response time of approximately two months is observed, suggesting a considerable contribution of groundwater to the lake’s water balance. Minimum lake volumes found for the period 2014–2017 coincide with a prolonged period of below-average precipitation, indicating the effect of decreased groundwater recharge. Dry season lake volumes show weak correlation with cumulative precipitation in comparison to rainy season lake volumes, further indicating the importance of groundwater inflow for the dry season water balance. Results suggest that climate change effects and anthropogenic activities may have little short-term impact on the lake’s dry season volume, while altering groundwater recharge may have more significant long-term effects.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581824005226Lake-floodplain systemOptical remote sensingSynthetic aperture radarSupervised classificationLake storage variabilityGorongosa National Park
spellingShingle Thijs de Klein
Victor Bense
Syed Mustafa
Estimation of water storage changes in a tropical lake-floodplain system through remote sensing
Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
Lake-floodplain system
Optical remote sensing
Synthetic aperture radar
Supervised classification
Lake storage variability
Gorongosa National Park
title Estimation of water storage changes in a tropical lake-floodplain system through remote sensing
title_full Estimation of water storage changes in a tropical lake-floodplain system through remote sensing
title_fullStr Estimation of water storage changes in a tropical lake-floodplain system through remote sensing
title_full_unstemmed Estimation of water storage changes in a tropical lake-floodplain system through remote sensing
title_short Estimation of water storage changes in a tropical lake-floodplain system through remote sensing
title_sort estimation of water storage changes in a tropical lake floodplain system through remote sensing
topic Lake-floodplain system
Optical remote sensing
Synthetic aperture radar
Supervised classification
Lake storage variability
Gorongosa National Park
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581824005226
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AT victorbense estimationofwaterstoragechangesinatropicallakefloodplainsystemthroughremotesensing
AT syedmustafa estimationofwaterstoragechangesinatropicallakefloodplainsystemthroughremotesensing