Evaluating spectral indices for water extraction: Limitations and contextual usage recommendations
With the intensification of climate change and human activities, water resource shortages, floods, and water quality anomalies are becoming increasingly serious. It is urgent to ensure the effective realization of water resource management, flood monitoring, and water quality assessment through fine...
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Elsevier
2025-05-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Applied Earth Observations and Geoinformation |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1569843225001578 |
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| author | Chuanwu Zhao Haishuo Wei Gudina Legese Feyisa Thiaggo de Castro Tayer Gelilan Ma Hanyi Wu Yaozhong Pan |
| author_facet | Chuanwu Zhao Haishuo Wei Gudina Legese Feyisa Thiaggo de Castro Tayer Gelilan Ma Hanyi Wu Yaozhong Pan |
| author_sort | Chuanwu Zhao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | With the intensification of climate change and human activities, water resource shortages, floods, and water quality anomalies are becoming increasingly serious. It is urgent to ensure the effective realization of water resource management, flood monitoring, and water quality assessment through fine-scale monitoring of water body spatial distribution and dynamics. Currently, various technologies have been applied to water information monitoring, with remote sensing-based spectral index methods being widely used due to their simplicity, low cost, and large-scale observation capabilities. However, the wide variety of existing water spectral indices, each suited to different scenarios and objectives, makes it challenging for ordinary users to select the most appropriate index and determine its optimal usage (i.e., threshold settings). This study addresses these challenges by evaluating the performance and applicability of 15 widely used water detection indices, using Sentinel-2 imagery across 14 representative global regions. The results revealed that the performance of water indices varied across different scenarios. Common issues include misidentification in high-reflectance backgrounds (e.g., buildings and snow), low-reflectance backgrounds (e.g., shadows), and omission errors for water bodies with high chlorophyll content. On this basis, this study provides a recommended table for water body index selection in different scenarios and a recommended range table for index thresholds, and point out key directions for future development of water body indices. This study offers valuable guidance for the selection and use of water body indices in practical application, helping to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of fine-scale monitoring of water bodies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9dbb8894b2a1452a84fe8478ea893173 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1569-8432 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Applied Earth Observations and Geoinformation |
| spelling | doaj-art-9dbb8894b2a1452a84fe8478ea8931732025-08-20T02:31:17ZengElsevierInternational Journal of Applied Earth Observations and Geoinformation1569-84322025-05-0113910451010.1016/j.jag.2025.104510Evaluating spectral indices for water extraction: Limitations and contextual usage recommendationsChuanwu Zhao0Haishuo Wei1Gudina Legese Feyisa2Thiaggo de Castro Tayer3Gelilan Ma4Hanyi Wu5Yaozhong Pan6State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Natural Disasters of Chinese Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaInnovation Research Center of Satellite Application, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaCenter for Environmental Science, Addis Ababa University, POBox 117, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaSchool of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, AustraliaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Natural Disasters of Chinese Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Natural Disasters of Chinese Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Natural Disasters of Chinese Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Academy of Plateau Science and Sustainability, Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810016, China; Corresponding author.With the intensification of climate change and human activities, water resource shortages, floods, and water quality anomalies are becoming increasingly serious. It is urgent to ensure the effective realization of water resource management, flood monitoring, and water quality assessment through fine-scale monitoring of water body spatial distribution and dynamics. Currently, various technologies have been applied to water information monitoring, with remote sensing-based spectral index methods being widely used due to their simplicity, low cost, and large-scale observation capabilities. However, the wide variety of existing water spectral indices, each suited to different scenarios and objectives, makes it challenging for ordinary users to select the most appropriate index and determine its optimal usage (i.e., threshold settings). This study addresses these challenges by evaluating the performance and applicability of 15 widely used water detection indices, using Sentinel-2 imagery across 14 representative global regions. The results revealed that the performance of water indices varied across different scenarios. Common issues include misidentification in high-reflectance backgrounds (e.g., buildings and snow), low-reflectance backgrounds (e.g., shadows), and omission errors for water bodies with high chlorophyll content. On this basis, this study provides a recommended table for water body index selection in different scenarios and a recommended range table for index thresholds, and point out key directions for future development of water body indices. This study offers valuable guidance for the selection and use of water body indices in practical application, helping to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of fine-scale monitoring of water bodies.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1569843225001578Water body identificationRemote sensingSpectral indexApplication scenariosRecommended threshold |
| spellingShingle | Chuanwu Zhao Haishuo Wei Gudina Legese Feyisa Thiaggo de Castro Tayer Gelilan Ma Hanyi Wu Yaozhong Pan Evaluating spectral indices for water extraction: Limitations and contextual usage recommendations International Journal of Applied Earth Observations and Geoinformation Water body identification Remote sensing Spectral index Application scenarios Recommended threshold |
| title | Evaluating spectral indices for water extraction: Limitations and contextual usage recommendations |
| title_full | Evaluating spectral indices for water extraction: Limitations and contextual usage recommendations |
| title_fullStr | Evaluating spectral indices for water extraction: Limitations and contextual usage recommendations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluating spectral indices for water extraction: Limitations and contextual usage recommendations |
| title_short | Evaluating spectral indices for water extraction: Limitations and contextual usage recommendations |
| title_sort | evaluating spectral indices for water extraction limitations and contextual usage recommendations |
| topic | Water body identification Remote sensing Spectral index Application scenarios Recommended threshold |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1569843225001578 |
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