Evaluating spectral indices for water bodies extraction in western Tibetan Plateau

Waterbody extraction in the high-elevated region of the Tibetan Plateau from remote sensing imagery is an efficient way to investigate and monitor water resources. The intrusion of shadows, snow/ice, and other impediments are still unconvincing in cryospheric regions. Landsat 8 OLI images were used to extract water bodies by applying various spectral indices such as; Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI), Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI), Automated Water Extraction Index (AWEI_sh), New Water Index (NWI), Water Ratio Index (WRI), and LST based Water Extraction Index (LBWEI). The result showed that the LBWEI index has high accuracy in all weather conditions from 93.66% to 97.63% and improved consistency around 3% to 7% as compared to other techniques. The study suggests the LBWEI technique may be used in the cryospheric region for quick evaluation and provide the baseline information for researchers in algorithm developments.(c) 2021 National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B. V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

Waterbody extraction using various spectral indices in high-elevated regions like the Tibetan Plateau showed that LBWEI index has higher accuracy in all weather conditions compared to other techniques, providing a valuable tool for quick evaluation in cryospheric regions and baseline information for algorithm developments.