High-resolution water level and storage variation datasets for 338reservoirs in China during 2010-2021

Shen, Youjiang1; Liu, Dedi1; Jiang, Liguang2; Nielsen, Karina3; Yin, Jiabo1; Liu, Jun4; Bauer-Gottwein, Peter4

2022-12-22

10.5194/essd-14-5671-2022

Earth System Science Data   Impact Factor & Quartile

1866-3508

1866-3516

Reservoirs and dams are essential infrastructure in water management; thus, information of their surface water area (SWA), water surface elevation (WSE), and reservoir water storage change (RWSC) is crucial for understanding their properties and interactions in hydrological and biogeochemical cycles. However, knowledge of these reservoir characteristics is scarce or inconsistent at the national scale. Here, we introduce comprehensive reservoir datasets of 338 reservoirs in China, with a total of 470.6 km3 storage capacity (50 % Chinese reservoir storage capacity). Given the scarcity of publicly available gauged observations and operational applications of satellites for hydrological cycles, we utilize multiple satellite altimetry missions (SARAL/AltiKa, Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B, CroySat-2, Jason-3, and ICESat-2) and imagery data from Landsat and Sentinel-2 to produce a comprehensive reservoir dataset on the WSE, SWA, and RWSC during 2010-2021. Validation against gauged measurements of 93 reservoirs demonstrates the relatively high accuracy and reliability of our remotely sensed datasets. (1) Across gauge comparisons of RWSC, the median statistics of the Pearson correlation coefficient (CC), normalized root mean square error (NRMSE), and root mean square error (RMSE) are 0.89, 11 %, and 0.021 km3, with a total of 91 % validated reservoirs (83 of 91) having good RMSE from 0.002 to 0.31 km(3) and NRMSE values smaller than 20 %. (2) Comparisons of WSE retracked by six satellite altimeters and gauges show good agreement. Specifically, the percentages of reservoirs having good and moderate RMSE values smaller than 1.0 m for CryoSat-2 (validated in 30 reservoirs), SARAL/AltiKa (9), Sentinel-3A (34), Sentinel-3B (25), Jason-3 (11), and ICESat-2 (26) are 77 %, 75 %, 79 %, 87 %, 81 %, and 82 %, respectively. By taking advantages of six satellite altimeters, we are able to densify WSE observations across spatiotemporal scales. Statistically, around 96 % of validated reservoirs (71 of 74) have RMSE values below 1.0 m, while 57 % of reservoirs (42 of 74) have good data quality with RMSE values below 0.6 m. Overall, our study fills such a data gap with regard to comprehensive reservoir information in China and provides strong support for many aspects such as hydrological processes, water resources, and other studies. . The dataset is publicly available on Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/ zenodo.7251283 (Shen et al., 2021).Published by Copernicus Publications.

SCI

English

Others

Geology ; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences

Geosciences, Multidisciplinary ; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences

WOS:000902068300001

COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH

Web of Science

1.Wuhan Univ, State Key Lab Water Resources & Hydropower Engn Sc, Wuhan 430072, Peoples R China
2.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Sch Environm Sci & Engn, Shenzhen 518055, Peoples R China
3.Tech Univ Denmark, Natl Space Inst, DTU Space, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
4.Tech Univ, Dept Environm Engn, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

Shen, Youjiang,Liu, Dedi,Jiang, Liguang,et al. High-resolution water level and storage variation datasets for 338reservoirs in China during 2010-2021[J]. Earth System Science Data,2022,14(12).

Shen, Youjiang.,Liu, Dedi.,Jiang, Liguang.,Nielsen, Karina.,Yin, Jiabo.,...&Bauer-Gottwein, Peter.(2022).High-resolution water level and storage variation datasets for 338reservoirs in China during 2010-2021.Earth System Science Data,14(12).

Shen, Youjiang,et al."High-resolution water level and storage variation datasets for 338reservoirs in China during 2010-2021".Earth System Science Data 14.12(2022).