Totaling river discharge of the third pole from satellite imagery

• The high-mountain Third Pole (TP) in Asia is undergoing rapid warming, profoundly impacting river discharge. Changes in precipitation and the degradation of glaciers and permafrost exert a substantial impact on TP rivers, affecting millions downstream. Nevertheless, conventional estimation methods that rely on in -situ observations and models face considerable challenges due to inconsistent data quality and availability, complex terrain, and difficulty in representing hydrological processes. Here, we harnessed the power of high-resolution (3 m) Dove/ PlanetScope satellite images to meticulously measure river width and propose a novel formula for estimating discharge. This approach facilitates a coherent assessment of discharge at various river section shapes. Its efficacy is demonstrated through applying to thirteen high-mountain TP rivers, revealing an estimated total mountain discharge of 3786 billion m 3 during 2017 - 2021, equaling water from approximately 167 Great Lakes. These findings have immediate implications for integrated water resources management at the poorly-gauged transboundary basins of Asia.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Dove/PlanetScope

Remote sensing

Third pole

Mountain river discharge

Machine learning

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)