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Drought impact detection on wetlands in the arid area using Synthetic Aperture Radar data

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Abstract

Wetland conservation is crucial in arid areas on account of the high dependence of life on these ecosystems. Quantifying the effects of drought on wetlands is the initial step toward conservation action under drought condition. In this study, the ability of Synthetic Aperture Radar (TerraSAR-X and Sentinel 1 images) to detect the drought impacts on wetlands in arid areas was investigated. Synthetic Aperture Radar signals (SAR) acquired in dry and wet periods at two wavelengths (X-band ~ 3 cm, C-band ~ 6 cm), three polarizations (HH, VV, and VH), and three incidence angles (22°, 34°, and 53°) were applied. Primarily, the discrimination ability of each SAR data was assessed using the Transformed Divergence and Bhattacharyya Distance. The best image to create the wetland cover classes during wet and dry conditions was determined accordingly. The SAR images were classified employing the Support vector machine method and the classified images were assessed using n-folds cross-validation. Degradation in wetland cover classes as an index of drought-induced damage in the wetland was determined using a comparison between the flooded and dry conditions. Based on the findings of this paper, Sentinel-1 (C band) is of the ability to determine the degradation of wetland cover classes since it is capable of quantifying the increase in dead plants and bare lands. This study illustrated the potential of SAR data as a tool in arid land studies and could also promote the application of SAR data in wetland management. Free access to Sentinel-1 data and the 6-day overpass makes these data favorable images for wetland research.

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Funding

This paper was supported by University of Zabol (grant code: UOZ-GR-1348).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environment, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran

    Saeideh Maleki & Vahid Rahdari

  2. Department of Environment, Faculty of Natural Resources, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

    Aireza Soffianain

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  1. Saeideh Maleki
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  2. Vahid Rahdari
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  3. Aireza Soffianain
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Correspondence to Saeideh Maleki.

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Responsible Editor: Biswajeet Pradhan

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Maleki, S., Rahdari, V. & Soffianain, A. Drought impact detection on wetlands in the arid area using Synthetic Aperture Radar data. Arab J Geosci 15, 919 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-10171-w

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