Long-term wetland mapping at 10 m resolution using super-resolution and hierarchical classification – a case study in Jianghan Plain, China

Wetland is a critical and complex ecosystem but highly susceptible to human activities. It has experienced significant change along with the increase of human intervention since decades ago. Currently, remote sensing-based mapping is believed an effective method for monitoring wetland changes. Howev...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yifei Han, Hong Chi, Jinliang Huang, Xiaoming Shi, Juan Qiu, Qihui Shao, Yifan Li, Chen Cheng, Feng Ling
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-08-01
Series:International Journal of Digital Earth
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2498605
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849224281487048704
author Yifei Han
Hong Chi
Jinliang Huang
Xiaoming Shi
Juan Qiu
Qihui Shao
Yifan Li
Chen Cheng
Feng Ling
author_facet Yifei Han
Hong Chi
Jinliang Huang
Xiaoming Shi
Juan Qiu
Qihui Shao
Yifan Li
Chen Cheng
Feng Ling
author_sort Yifei Han
collection DOAJ
description Wetland is a critical and complex ecosystem but highly susceptible to human activities. It has experienced significant change along with the increase of human intervention since decades ago. Currently, remote sensing-based mapping is believed an effective method for monitoring wetland changes. However, long-term wetland mapping is difficult due to poor historical data quality and wetland complexity, resulting in the triangular contradiction of long-term, high-resolution, and comprehensive classification systems. To address these challenges, we first modified the single-image-super-resolution method Residual Channel Attention Network (RCAN) and combined it with the famous spatiotemporal fusion model STARFM to enhance the Landsat images to 10 m resolution, which enabled more wetland objects to be identified. Then we extracted water bodies using UNet and classified them by object-based shape indices. Next, we applied recursive feature elimination and random forest classifier to map vegetated wetlands. Our overall classification accuracy reached 85.65%. We observed that the wetland in Jianghan Plain expanded significantly since 2000, with ponds showing the most notable growth rate (>114.04%). Aquatic crops make up a large portion of the wetland area, remaining stable with slow growth since 2000, while lake and surrounding herbaceous wetland restoration has shown notable progress in recent years.
format Article
id doaj-art-3e4eded1bf8f4f0e88a4252fcd841287
institution Kabale University
issn 1753-8947
1753-8955
language English
publishDate 2025-08-01
publisher Taylor & Francis Group
record_format Article
series International Journal of Digital Earth
spelling doaj-art-3e4eded1bf8f4f0e88a4252fcd8412872025-08-25T11:28:29ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Digital Earth1753-89471753-89552025-08-0118110.1080/17538947.2025.2498605Long-term wetland mapping at 10 m resolution using super-resolution and hierarchical classification – a case study in Jianghan Plain, ChinaYifei Han0Hong Chi1Jinliang Huang2Xiaoming Shi3Juan Qiu4Qihui Shao5Yifan Li6Chen Cheng7Feng Ling8Key Laboratory of Monitoring and Estimate for Environment and Disaster of Hubei Province, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Monitoring and Estimate for Environment and Disaster of Hubei Province, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Monitoring and Estimate for Environment and Disaster of Hubei Province, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, People’s Republic of ChinaHubei Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Wuhan, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Monitoring and Estimate for Environment and Disaster of Hubei Province, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, People’s Republic of ChinaSchool of Architecture, Hubei Engineering University, Xiaogan, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Monitoring and Estimate for Environment and Disaster of Hubei Province, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Monitoring and Estimate for Environment and Disaster of Hubei Province, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Monitoring and Estimate for Environment and Disaster of Hubei Province, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, People’s Republic of ChinaWetland is a critical and complex ecosystem but highly susceptible to human activities. It has experienced significant change along with the increase of human intervention since decades ago. Currently, remote sensing-based mapping is believed an effective method for monitoring wetland changes. However, long-term wetland mapping is difficult due to poor historical data quality and wetland complexity, resulting in the triangular contradiction of long-term, high-resolution, and comprehensive classification systems. To address these challenges, we first modified the single-image-super-resolution method Residual Channel Attention Network (RCAN) and combined it with the famous spatiotemporal fusion model STARFM to enhance the Landsat images to 10 m resolution, which enabled more wetland objects to be identified. Then we extracted water bodies using UNet and classified them by object-based shape indices. Next, we applied recursive feature elimination and random forest classifier to map vegetated wetlands. Our overall classification accuracy reached 85.65%. We observed that the wetland in Jianghan Plain expanded significantly since 2000, with ponds showing the most notable growth rate (>114.04%). Aquatic crops make up a large portion of the wetland area, remaining stable with slow growth since 2000, while lake and surrounding herbaceous wetland restoration has shown notable progress in recent years.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2498605Super-resolutionLandsat imagerySentinel-2 imageryWetland mappingJianghan Plain
spellingShingle Yifei Han
Hong Chi
Jinliang Huang
Xiaoming Shi
Juan Qiu
Qihui Shao
Yifan Li
Chen Cheng
Feng Ling
Long-term wetland mapping at 10 m resolution using super-resolution and hierarchical classification – a case study in Jianghan Plain, China
International Journal of Digital Earth
Super-resolution
Landsat imagery
Sentinel-2 imagery
Wetland mapping
Jianghan Plain
title Long-term wetland mapping at 10 m resolution using super-resolution and hierarchical classification – a case study in Jianghan Plain, China
title_full Long-term wetland mapping at 10 m resolution using super-resolution and hierarchical classification – a case study in Jianghan Plain, China
title_fullStr Long-term wetland mapping at 10 m resolution using super-resolution and hierarchical classification – a case study in Jianghan Plain, China
title_full_unstemmed Long-term wetland mapping at 10 m resolution using super-resolution and hierarchical classification – a case study in Jianghan Plain, China
title_short Long-term wetland mapping at 10 m resolution using super-resolution and hierarchical classification – a case study in Jianghan Plain, China
title_sort long term wetland mapping at 10 m resolution using super resolution and hierarchical classification a case study in jianghan plain china
topic Super-resolution
Landsat imagery
Sentinel-2 imagery
Wetland mapping
Jianghan Plain
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2498605
work_keys_str_mv AT yifeihan longtermwetlandmappingat10mresolutionusingsuperresolutionandhierarchicalclassificationacasestudyinjianghanplainchina
AT hongchi longtermwetlandmappingat10mresolutionusingsuperresolutionandhierarchicalclassificationacasestudyinjianghanplainchina
AT jinlianghuang longtermwetlandmappingat10mresolutionusingsuperresolutionandhierarchicalclassificationacasestudyinjianghanplainchina
AT xiaomingshi longtermwetlandmappingat10mresolutionusingsuperresolutionandhierarchicalclassificationacasestudyinjianghanplainchina
AT juanqiu longtermwetlandmappingat10mresolutionusingsuperresolutionandhierarchicalclassificationacasestudyinjianghanplainchina
AT qihuishao longtermwetlandmappingat10mresolutionusingsuperresolutionandhierarchicalclassificationacasestudyinjianghanplainchina
AT yifanli longtermwetlandmappingat10mresolutionusingsuperresolutionandhierarchicalclassificationacasestudyinjianghanplainchina
AT chencheng longtermwetlandmappingat10mresolutionusingsuperresolutionandhierarchicalclassificationacasestudyinjianghanplainchina
AT fengling longtermwetlandmappingat10mresolutionusingsuperresolutionandhierarchicalclassificationacasestudyinjianghanplainchina