| Title: | Developing land use land cover maps for the Lower Mekong Basin to aid hydrologic molding and basin planning |
| Authors: | Spruce, J., J. Bolten, R. Srinivasan and C. Lakshmi |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Journal: | Remote Sensing |
| Volume (Issue): | 10(12) |
| Pages: | |
| Article ID: | 1910 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/rs10121910 |
| URL (non-DOI journals): | |
| Model: | none |
| Broad Application Category: | data or component development |
| Primary Application Category: | data and/or component contribution to SWAT or SWAT+ |
| Secondary Application Category: | land use resolution effects |
| Watershed Description: | "Sub basin 7" Within the lower Mekong river which aligns mostly with the Chi River draining in northeast Thailand. |
| Calibration Summary: | |
| Validation Summary: | |
| General Comments: | The authors state: "This effort used NASA remote sensing systems and data to help improve Mekong River Commission (MRC) Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) models for sub-basins (SBs) 1–8. The project included computation and updates of LULC maps that were in turn used as a primary input to MRC SWAT hydrologic models developed for multiple sub-basins
of the LMB." However, the study area was limited to what is essentially the Chi River System that is located in northeast Thailand, although the southeast part of the drainage area differs from what is normally delineated; e.g., see study at https://doi.org/10.2208/jscejhe.67.I_31. The river name is incorrectly stated as "Chu" in the text of this study but is correctly called "Chi" in Figure 2. |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses research methodology to develop Land Use Land Cover (LULC) maps
for the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) for basin planning, using both MODIS and Landsat satellite
data. The 2010 MODIS MOD09 and MYD09 8-day reflectance data was processed into monthly
NDVI maps with the Time Series Product Tool software package and then used to classify regionally
common forest and agricultural LULC types. Dry season circa 2010 Landsat top of atmosphere
reflectance mosaics were classified to map locally common LULC types. Unsupervised ISODATA
clustering was used to derive most LULC classifications. MODIS and Landsat classifications were
combined with GIS methods to derive final 250-m LULC maps for Sub-basins (SBs) 1–8 of the LMB.
The SB 7 LULC map with 14 classes was assessed for accuracy. This assessment compared random
locations for sampled types on the SB 7 LULC map to geospatial reference data such as Landsat RGBs,
MODIS NDVI phenologic profiles, high resolution satellite data, and Mekong River Commission
data (e.g., crop calendars). The SB 7 LULC map showed an overall agreement to reference data of
~81%. By grouping three deciduous forest classes into one, the overall agreement improved to ~87%.
The project enabled updated regional LULC maps that included more detailed agriculture LULC
types. LULC maps were supplied to project partners to improve use of Soil and Water Assessment
Tool for modeling hydrology and water use, plus enhance LMB water and disaster management
in a region vulnerable to flooding, droughts, and anthropogenic change as part of basin planning
and assessment. |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | land use land cover mapping; SWAT hydrologic modeling disaster management; water
resource management; agricultural monitoring |