Automated wetland delineation from multi-frequency and muliti-polarized SAR Images in high temporal and spatial resolution

Abstract

Water scarcity is one of the main challenges posed by the changing climate. Especially in semi-arid regions where water reservoirs are filled during the very short rainy season, but have to store enough water for the extremely long dry season, the intelligent handling of water resources is vital. This study focusses on Lac Bam in Burkina Faso, which is the largest natural lake of the country and of high importance for the local inhabitants for irrigated farming, animal watering, and extraction of water for drinking and sanitation. With respect to the competition for water resources an independent area-wide monitoring system is essential for the acceptance of any decision maker. The following contribution introduces a weather and illumination independent monitoring system for the automated wetland delineation with a high temporal (about two weeks) and a high spatial sampling (about five meters). The similarities of the multispectral and multi-polarized SAR acquisitions by RADARSAT-2 and TerraSAR-X are studied as well as the differences. The results indicate that even basic approaches without pre-classification time series analysis or post-classification filtering are already enough to establish a monitoring system of prime importance for a whole region.