Detail Abstract

Exploring potentials of remote sensing techniques for monitoring spatio-temporal variations of water resources and reservoir operations in Red river basin

Abstract

Vietnam\'s water resources depend heavily on water resources in the upstream countries of the river systems. About 61% of water resources inside the territory of Vietnam comes from abroad. Six of the nine largest river basins in Vietnam are transboundary rivers. One of the most severe problems for studying water resources in these transboundary rivers basin is the lack of reliable observation data on the part of river basin outside the border. This causes many difficulties for the water resources management and planning in Vietnam. While traditional methods of measurement are impractical to apply in the abroad part of international basins, remote sensing with its advantages in large spatial coverage, no-boundary limitation and high resolution is a promising technology which is suitable for studying natural resources in geneal and water resources in particular in international river basins. However, application of remote sensing techniques for water resources study in Vietnam is still very limited. In this study, by collecting and processing data from multiple satellite products like Landsat, TRMM and MODIS, we investigated the spatio-temporal variations of water resources as well as the operations of Chinese reservoirs in the Chinese part of the Red (Hong) river basin. Our study provides valuable datasets for forecasting the flow from China in the Red river to Vietnam, effectively serving for the planning and management of water resources in the Red River basin.