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Advancing Water System with Satellite Observations and Deep Learning

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Remote Sensing in Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 940

Special Issue Editors

Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Interests: data assimilation; hydrological modeling; remote sensing image classification; soil moisture estimation; snow cover assimilation; wildfire detection algorithms; satellite-derived observations

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Guest Editor
Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Interests: classification algorithms; remote sensing technology; deep learning reomte sensing classification; land use/cover; remote sensing classification

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Interests: hydrological remote sensing; hydrological data assimilation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This special issue explores the transformative synergy between satellite observations and deep learning techniques in advancing water systems management. Water, a vital resource essential for sustaining life and supporting ecosystems, faces increasing pressures from climate change, urbanization, and population growth. Satellite observations provide unprecedented spatial and temporal coverage, enabling comprehensive monitoring of hydrological processes, water quality, and water availability.Deep learning algorithms offer powerful tools to extract actionable insights from large and complex satellite datasets. By leveraging these technologies, researchers can enhance the accuracy of water resource assessments, improve flood forecasting models, optimize irrigation practices, and monitor changes in water quality in both natural environments and human-modified water systems.

This special issue invites contributions that showcase innovative applications, methodological advancements, and case studies demonstrating the impact of integrating satellite observations and deep learning in water resource management. Researchers are encouraged to explore innovative solutions to challenges such as sustainable water use, ecosystem conservation, and resilience to water-related hazards. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and technological innovation, this special issue aims to foster a deeper understanding of water systems dynamics and accelerate the adoption of data-driven strategies for achieving water security and sustainability globally. Submissions will contribute to advancing knowledge at the interface of remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and hydrology, paving the way for more effective policies and practices in managing our precious water resources.

Dr. Ying Zhang
Dr. Peng Dou
Prof. Dr. Chunlin Huang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • water system
  • hydrological modeling
  • satellite observations
  • deep learning
  • water resource

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

27 pages, 5777 KiB  
Article
Flash Flood Regionalization for the Hengduan Mountains Region, China, Combining GNN and SHAP Methods
by Yifan Li, Chendi Zhang, Peng Cui, Marwan Hassan, Zhongjie Duan, Suman Bhattacharyya, Shunyu Yao and Yang Zhao
Remote Sens. 2025, 17(6), 946; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17060946 - 7 Mar 2025
Viewed by 664
Abstract
The Hengduan Mountains region (HMR) is vulnerable to flash flood disasters, which account for the largest proportion of flood-related fatalities in China. Flash flood regionalization, which divides a region into homogeneous subdivisions based on flash flood-inducing factors, provides insights for the spatial distribution [...] Read more.
The Hengduan Mountains region (HMR) is vulnerable to flash flood disasters, which account for the largest proportion of flood-related fatalities in China. Flash flood regionalization, which divides a region into homogeneous subdivisions based on flash flood-inducing factors, provides insights for the spatial distribution patterns of flash flood risk, especially in ungauged areas. However, existing methods for flash flood regionalization have not fully reflected the spatial topology structure of the inputted geographical data. To address this issue, this study proposed a novel framework combining a state-of-the-art unsupervised Graph Neural Network (GNN) method, Dink-Net, and Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) for flash flood regionalization in the HMR. A comprehensive dataset of flash flood inducing factors was first established, covering geomorphology, climate, meteorology, hydrology, and surface conditions. The performances of two classic machine learning methods (K-means and Self-organizing feature map) and three GNN methods (Deep Graph Infomax (DGI), Deep Modularity Networks (DMoN), and Dilation shrink Network (Dink-Net)) were compared for flash-flood regionalization, and the Dink-Net model outperformed the others. The SHAP model was then applied to quantify the impact of all the inducing factors on the regionalization results by Dink-Net. The newly developed framework captured the spatial interactions of the inducing factors and characterized the spatial distribution patterns of the factors. The unsupervised Dink-Net model allowed the framework to be independent from historical flash flood data, which would facilitate its application in ungauged mountainous areas. The impact analysis highlights the significant positive influence of extreme rainfall on flash floods across the entire HMR. The pronounced positive impact of soil moisture and saturated hydraulic conductivity in the areas with a concentration of historical flash flood events, together with the positive impact of topography (elevation) in the transition zone from the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau to the Sichuan Basin, have also been revealed. The results of this study provide technical support and a scientific basis for flood control and disaster reduction measures in mountain areas according to local inducing conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancing Water System with Satellite Observations and Deep Learning)
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