Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2015, Vol. 12, No. 6, pp. 174-182
Hydrology monitoring of Kapchagay Reservoir on River Tekes (China’s part of River Ile basin) based on LANDSAT 5,7,8 data and DEM batymetry
A.G. Terekhov
1, 2 , I.T. Park
1 , S.A. Golgikh
2 1 Institute of Information and Computing Technologies, Ministry of Education and Science, Almaty, Kazakhstan
2 RSB Kazhydromet, Almaty, Kazakhstan
The hydrological monitoring of trans-boundary river basins is often affected by information incompleteness. The access to operational hydrological information on objects located on foreign territory is usually restricted. Satellite data can partly provide independent hydrology information on total basin territory. Artificial reservoirs on rivers with ice and snow/ice supply are of primary interest. These objects are characterized by significant seasonal variations of water storage. The SRTM-2000 Elevation model gives the bathymetry information on the reservoirs built since 2000. DEM reservoir bathymetry and LANDSAT monitoring of water surface can be used for numerical estimation of total water balance between the river runoff and reservoir water storage. This information is an important part of basin hydrological monitoring. For example, River Ile basin (the territory of Kazakhstan and China) was analyzed. River Tekes (the main tributary of the River Ile) with average annual water flow of about 250 m3/sec is formed in the Inner Tien Shan Mountains. The artificial Kapchagay Reservoir on River Tekes was built in 2005. In total, 157 images of LANDSAT-5,7,8 (2005–2015) were processed to monitor water surface of Kapchagay Reservoir. The reservoir DEM bathymetry and water area were used to assess total water balance between River Tekes runoff and Kapchagay Reservoir water storage. The seasonal hydrological regime of the reservoir is formed by the withdrawal from River Tekes of more than one billion cubic meters of water, which is used for electricity generation during the cold period. Approximately 10–15% of River Tekes flow is withdrawn during June – October, allowing an increase of about 40% in river runoff in November – April.
Keywords: remote sensing, LANDSAT images, water mirror area, hydrological regime of reservoir, digital elevation model
Full textReferences:
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