Monitoring Temporal Change of River Islands in the Yangtze River by Remotely Sensed Data

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of the Water Quality and Its Multiscale Relationship with Land Use in the Yangtze River Basin

The spatiotemporal characteristics of river water quality are the key indicators for ecosystem health evaluation in basins. Land use patterns, as one of the main driving forces of water quality change, affect stream water quality differently with the variations in the spatiotemporal scales. Thus, quantitative analysis of the relationship between different land cover types and river water quality contributes to a better understanding of the effects of land cover on water quality, the landscape planning of water quality protection, and integrated water resources management. Based on water quality data of 2006–2018 at 18 typical water quality stations in the Yangtze River basin, this study analyzed the spatial and temporal variation characteristics of water quality by using the single-factor water quality identification index through statistical analysis. Furthermore, the Spearman correlation analysis method was adopted to quantify the spatial-scale and temporal-scale effects of various land uses, including agricultural land (AL), forest land (FL), grassland (GL), water area (WA), and construction land (CL), on the stream water quality of dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (CODMn), and ammonia (NH3-N). The results showed that (1) in terms of temporal variation, the water quality of the river has improved significantly and the tributaries have improved more than the main rivers; (2) in the spatial variation respect, the water quality pollutants in the tributaries are significantly higher than those in the main stream, and the concentration of pollutants increases with the decrease of the distance from the estuary; and (3) the correlation between DO and land use is low, while that between NH3-N, CODMn, and land use is high. CL and AL have a negative effect on water quality, while FL and GL have a purifying effect on water quality. In particular, AL and CL have a significant positive correlation with pollutants in water. Compared with NH3-N, CODMn has a higher correlation with land use at a larger scale. The results highlight the spatial scale and seasonal dependence of land use on water quality, which can provide a scientific basis for land management and seasonal pollution control.

Long-Term (1986–2018) Evolution of Channel Bars in Response to Combined Effects of Cascade Reservoirs in the Middle Reaches of the Hanjiang River

Channel bars are essential landforms and their evolution is crucial to aquatic and riparian biodiversity, river’s water-sediment process, and economic development. With the development of water conservation facilities and hydropower projects, numerous changes have been taken place in hydrological regimes and morphology. There have been many changes on channel bars in the middle reaches of Hanjiang River due to the combined effects of cascade reservoirs. However, little was known about such dynamics and their linkages to cascade dams across the entire downstream area. Using Landsat remote sensing images from 1986–2018 and the threshold binary Otsu extraction method, this study completed comprehensive monitoring of nine mid-channel bars (DX1–DX7, XZ1, and XZ2), and three shoal group (XZ3–XZ5) dynamics. Results showed that the mid-channel bars’ area in the reach from Danjiangkou to Xiangyang (DX) decreased over the past 33 years, with the exception of DX4, while the total area decreased by 23.19%, this channel bars’ area change was mainly influenced by backwater from the Cuijiaying Reservoir with high water level after 2010 (r = −0.93, p < 0.01). The total channel bar area from Xiangyang to Huangzhuang (XZ) decreased by 16.63% from 1986 to 2018. The total channel bar area in XZ had a strong negative correlation with runoff at Huangzhuang hydrologic station (r = −0.79, p < 0.05), which was partly attributed to upstream precipitation according to the high correlation between runoff and precipitation (R2 = 0.65). In general, the DX section was under equilibrium between scouring and deposition compared to downstream Xiangyang, the bars in DX section were mainly affected by water level, and bars in XZ section during 1986–2018 were complicated because it was upstream eroded and downstream deposited. In addition, vegetation cover, revetments, flood events, sand mining, land use, and over-exploitation may cause channel bar area dynamics. Hence, more continuous investigations are suggested to focus on effects of cascade reservoir operation on hydrological regime, as well as the changing morphology of channel bars in the middle reaches of the Hanjiang River.