Using Satellite‐Based Vegetation Cover as Indicator of Groundwater Storage in Natural Vegetation Areas

Abstract Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is widely used as an efficient indicator of vegetation cover. Here we assess the possibility of using NDVI as an indicator of groundwater storage. We used groundwater level (GWL) obtained from in situ groundwater observation wells (n > 15,000...

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Main Authors: Soumendra N. Bhanja, Pragnaditya Malakar, Abhijit Mukherjee, Matthew Rodell, Pabitra Mitra, Sudeshna Sarkar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2019-07-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083015
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author Soumendra N. Bhanja
Pragnaditya Malakar
Abhijit Mukherjee
Matthew Rodell
Pabitra Mitra
Sudeshna Sarkar
author_facet Soumendra N. Bhanja
Pragnaditya Malakar
Abhijit Mukherjee
Matthew Rodell
Pabitra Mitra
Sudeshna Sarkar
author_sort Soumendra N. Bhanja
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is widely used as an efficient indicator of vegetation cover. Here we assess the possibility of using NDVI as an indicator of groundwater storage. We used groundwater level (GWL) obtained from in situ groundwater observation wells (n > 15,000) in India in 2005–2013. Good correlation (r > 0.6) is observed between NDVI and GWL in natural vegetation‐covered areas, that is, forest lands, shrubs, and grasslands. We apply artificial neural network and support vector machine approaches to investigate the relationship between GWL and NDVI using both of the parameters as input. Artificial neural network‐ and support vector machine‐simulated GWL matches very well with observed GWL, particularly in naturally vegetated areas. Thus, we interpret that NDVI may be used as a suitable indicator of groundwater storage conditions in certain areas where the water table is shallow and the vegetation is natural and where in situ groundwater observations are not available.
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series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-21aa8e733dca468e890739ed69bddba42025-08-20T02:09:04ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072019-07-0146148082809210.1029/2019GL083015Using Satellite‐Based Vegetation Cover as Indicator of Groundwater Storage in Natural Vegetation AreasSoumendra N. Bhanja0Pragnaditya Malakar1Abhijit Mukherjee2Matthew Rodell3Pabitra Mitra4Sudeshna Sarkar5Department of Geology and Geophysics Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Kharagpur IndiaDepartment of Geology and Geophysics Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Kharagpur IndiaDepartment of Geology and Geophysics Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Kharagpur IndiaHydrological Sciences Laboratory NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USADepartment of Computer Science & Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Kharagpur IndiaDepartment of Computer Science & Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Kharagpur IndiaAbstract Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is widely used as an efficient indicator of vegetation cover. Here we assess the possibility of using NDVI as an indicator of groundwater storage. We used groundwater level (GWL) obtained from in situ groundwater observation wells (n > 15,000) in India in 2005–2013. Good correlation (r > 0.6) is observed between NDVI and GWL in natural vegetation‐covered areas, that is, forest lands, shrubs, and grasslands. We apply artificial neural network and support vector machine approaches to investigate the relationship between GWL and NDVI using both of the parameters as input. Artificial neural network‐ and support vector machine‐simulated GWL matches very well with observed GWL, particularly in naturally vegetated areas. Thus, we interpret that NDVI may be used as a suitable indicator of groundwater storage conditions in certain areas where the water table is shallow and the vegetation is natural and where in situ groundwater observations are not available.https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083015Groundwater level predictionNDVIANNSVMIndia
spellingShingle Soumendra N. Bhanja
Pragnaditya Malakar
Abhijit Mukherjee
Matthew Rodell
Pabitra Mitra
Sudeshna Sarkar
Using Satellite‐Based Vegetation Cover as Indicator of Groundwater Storage in Natural Vegetation Areas
Geophysical Research Letters
Groundwater level prediction
NDVI
ANN
SVM
India
title Using Satellite‐Based Vegetation Cover as Indicator of Groundwater Storage in Natural Vegetation Areas
title_full Using Satellite‐Based Vegetation Cover as Indicator of Groundwater Storage in Natural Vegetation Areas
title_fullStr Using Satellite‐Based Vegetation Cover as Indicator of Groundwater Storage in Natural Vegetation Areas
title_full_unstemmed Using Satellite‐Based Vegetation Cover as Indicator of Groundwater Storage in Natural Vegetation Areas
title_short Using Satellite‐Based Vegetation Cover as Indicator of Groundwater Storage in Natural Vegetation Areas
title_sort using satellite based vegetation cover as indicator of groundwater storage in natural vegetation areas
topic Groundwater level prediction
NDVI
ANN
SVM
India
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083015
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