Landsat Reveals Reservoir Changes and Bathymetry

What Happened

Landsat Navigation Landsat Home Missions Landsat Next Landsat 9 Landsat 8 Landsat 7 Landsat 6 Landsat 5 Landsat 4 Landsat 3 Landsat 2 Landsat 1 News Latest News People of Landsat Q&As Newsletter Publications Data Overview Cal/Val Open Data Benefits Overview Agriculture & Food Security Disaster Management Ecosystems & Biodiversity Energy Resources Forest Management Human Health Urban Development Water Resources Wildfires Case Studies Outreach Multimedia About Search Communities worldwide rely on reservoirs for drinking water, hydroelectric power, irrigation, and more.

Why It Matters

These critical freshwater resources are affected by seasonal and long-term changes; water levels in reservoirs can dip during hot summer months or due to prolonged drought, or can flood after a particularly strong storm.

Key Details

Despite their importance, there are key gaps in our knowledge of reservoir structure and dynamics.
Two recent papers use Landsat data to help fill in those gaps. Researchers from the University of Southampton used Landsat data to identify where water advanced or retreated from 1984 to 2022, creating the first global dataset pinpointing the exact year of permanent surface water changes—such as when a reservoir formed or a stream dried up.
The study can track changes in streams as narrow as 30m and lakes as small as 900m2.
In a separate study, Texas A&M University researchers used Landsat data to build a global bathymetry dataset called ‘3D-LAKES’ that enables water managers to estimate reservoir storage capacity.

Background Context

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Source: NASA – Original Link

Source: NASA