Impacts of climatic variability on surface water area observed by remotely sensed imageries in the Red River Basin

Recent wetting in the Northern Great Plain (NGP) exerted strong influences on lakes and wetlands. However, the influence of recent increase in precipitation on spatiotemporal variation of surface water area is poorly understood in the Red River Basin (RRB, northern United States and southern Canada). Here, we used a high-resolution global surface water dataset to understand spatiotemporal dynamics of the annual, total, permanent, and seasonal water extent in RRB. Monthly surface water area is investigated to detect the change in seasonal surface water extent. We found four distinct phases of variation in surface water: Phase 1 (1990-2001, wetting); Phase 2 (2002- 2005, dry); Phase 3 (2006-2013, recent wetting); and Phase 4 (2014-2019, recent drying). A bare land to a permanent and seasonal water area switch is observed during Phase 1, while the other phases have experienced relatively little fluctuation. Findings have implications for nutrient concentration assessment in lakes and wetlands.

Automated summary

The study revealed four distinct phases of variation in surface water area in the Red River Basin over the past few decades, with two phases experiencing strong wetting and the other two phases being relatively dry. These findings have implications for the assessment of nutrient concentration in lakes and wetlands.