Spatial and Temporal Changes in Surface Water Area of Sri Lanka over a 30-Year Period
Sri Lanka contains a large number of natural and man-made water bodies, which play an essential role in irrigation and domestic use. The island has recently been identified as a global hotspot of climate change extremes. However, the extent, spatial distribution, and the impact of climate and anthro...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/22/3701 |
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| author | Deepakrishna Somasundaram Fangfang Zhang Sisira Ediriweera Shenglei Wang Junsheng Li Bing Zhang |
| author_facet | Deepakrishna Somasundaram Fangfang Zhang Sisira Ediriweera Shenglei Wang Junsheng Li Bing Zhang |
| author_sort | Deepakrishna Somasundaram |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Sri Lanka contains a large number of natural and man-made water bodies, which play an essential role in irrigation and domestic use. The island has recently been identified as a global hotspot of climate change extremes. However, the extent, spatial distribution, and the impact of climate and anthropogenic activities on these water bodies have remained unknown. We investigated the distribution, spatial and temporal changes, and the impacts of climatic and anthropogenic drivers on water dynamics in Dry, Intermediate, and Wet zones of the island. We used Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 images to generate per-pixel seasonal and annual water occurrence frequency maps for the period of 1988–2019. The results of the study demonstrated high inter- and intra-annual variations in water with a rapid increase. Further, results showed strong zonal differences in water dynamics, with most dramatic variations in the Dry zone. Our results revealed that 1607.73 km<sup>2</sup> of the land area of the island is covered by water bodies, among this 882.01 km<sup>2</sup> (54.86%) is permanent and 725.72 km<sup>2</sup> (45.14%) is seasonal water area. Total inland seasonal water increased with a dramatic annual growth rate of 7.06 ± 1.97 km<sup>2</sup> compared to that of permanent water (4.47 ± 2.08 km<sup>2</sup>/year). Sri Lanka has the highest permanent water area during December–February (1045.97 km<sup>2</sup>), and drops to the lowest in May–September (761.92 km<sup>2</sup>) when the seasonal water (846.46 km<sup>2</sup>) is higher than permanent water. The surface water area was positively related to both precipitation and Gross Domestic Product, while negatively related to the temperature. Findings of our study provide important insights into possible spatiotemporal changes in surface water availability in Sri Lanka under certain climate change and anthropogenic activities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:56:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c0ee0a2fc2bf401f89955a284905feb9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:56:10Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-c0ee0a2fc2bf401f89955a284905feb92023-11-20T20:35:46ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922020-11-011222370110.3390/rs12223701Spatial and Temporal Changes in Surface Water Area of Sri Lanka over a 30-Year PeriodDeepakrishna Somasundaram0Fangfang Zhang1Sisira Ediriweera2Shenglei Wang3Junsheng Li4Bing Zhang5Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, ChinaKey Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, ChinaDepartment of Science and Technology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Uva Wellassa University, Badulla 90000, Sri LankaKey Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, ChinaKey Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, ChinaKey Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, ChinaSri Lanka contains a large number of natural and man-made water bodies, which play an essential role in irrigation and domestic use. The island has recently been identified as a global hotspot of climate change extremes. However, the extent, spatial distribution, and the impact of climate and anthropogenic activities on these water bodies have remained unknown. We investigated the distribution, spatial and temporal changes, and the impacts of climatic and anthropogenic drivers on water dynamics in Dry, Intermediate, and Wet zones of the island. We used Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 images to generate per-pixel seasonal and annual water occurrence frequency maps for the period of 1988–2019. The results of the study demonstrated high inter- and intra-annual variations in water with a rapid increase. Further, results showed strong zonal differences in water dynamics, with most dramatic variations in the Dry zone. Our results revealed that 1607.73 km<sup>2</sup> of the land area of the island is covered by water bodies, among this 882.01 km<sup>2</sup> (54.86%) is permanent and 725.72 km<sup>2</sup> (45.14%) is seasonal water area. Total inland seasonal water increased with a dramatic annual growth rate of 7.06 ± 1.97 km<sup>2</sup> compared to that of permanent water (4.47 ± 2.08 km<sup>2</sup>/year). Sri Lanka has the highest permanent water area during December–February (1045.97 km<sup>2</sup>), and drops to the lowest in May–September (761.92 km<sup>2</sup>) when the seasonal water (846.46 km<sup>2</sup>) is higher than permanent water. The surface water area was positively related to both precipitation and Gross Domestic Product, while negatively related to the temperature. Findings of our study provide important insights into possible spatiotemporal changes in surface water availability in Sri Lanka under certain climate change and anthropogenic activities.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/22/3701inland water areaLandsat time-seriessurface water changespatiotemporal dynamicsspatial and temporal changeSri Lanka |
| spellingShingle | Deepakrishna Somasundaram Fangfang Zhang Sisira Ediriweera Shenglei Wang Junsheng Li Bing Zhang Spatial and Temporal Changes in Surface Water Area of Sri Lanka over a 30-Year Period Remote Sensing inland water area Landsat time-series surface water change spatiotemporal dynamics spatial and temporal change Sri Lanka |
| title | Spatial and Temporal Changes in Surface Water Area of Sri Lanka over a 30-Year Period |
| title_full | Spatial and Temporal Changes in Surface Water Area of Sri Lanka over a 30-Year Period |
| title_fullStr | Spatial and Temporal Changes in Surface Water Area of Sri Lanka over a 30-Year Period |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatial and Temporal Changes in Surface Water Area of Sri Lanka over a 30-Year Period |
| title_short | Spatial and Temporal Changes in Surface Water Area of Sri Lanka over a 30-Year Period |
| title_sort | spatial and temporal changes in surface water area of sri lanka over a 30 year period |
| topic | inland water area Landsat time-series surface water change spatiotemporal dynamics spatial and temporal change Sri Lanka |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/22/3701 |
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