A RESEARCH INVESTIGATION IN CHINA'S HEIHE RIVER BASIN EMPLOYING QUANTITATIVE REMOTE SENSING TO EXPLORE ECOHYDROLOGY IN WATER-DEFICIENT SETTINGS.

Abstract

A substantial ground for ecohydrological investigations is the Heihe River Basin (HRB) in northwest China, as it is one of the most notable interior river systems in semi-arid and dry regions. The already scarce water resources of the basin have been under intense pressure in recent decades due to fast socioeconomic growth, intensive agricultural activity, and climatic unpredictability. The objective of this work is to enhance the knowledge of vegetation-water interactions, surface water distribution, and groundwater recharge processes in the water-deficient HRB by using quantitative remote sensing methods to examine ecohydrological dynamics. Evapotranspiration, vegetation indices, land surface temperature, and soil moisture are among the critical metrics that are extracted from multi-source satellite data that includes images from Sentinel, MODIS, and Landsat. Quantifying water flows and evaluating biological responses under different hydrological circumstances is achieved by integrating these datasets with hydrological models and field measurements. Downstream oasis areas are very reliant on controlled water distribution from upstream sources, according to the results, which show clear geographical and temporal patterns in plant development. In times of drought, when surface water supplies are low, groundwater plays an increasingly important role in supporting riparian ecosystems, according to quantitative research. The need of implementing balanced water management techniques is highlighted by remote sensing, which further shows how vegetation dynamics are affected by both climate factors and human water consumption. In areas where monitoring networks are limited, ecohydrological studies based on remote sensing may supplement conventional field surveys with accurate, large-scale data. This study highlights the value of quantitative remote sensing as a decision-support tool for integrated water resource management and adds to the knowledge of ecohydrology in dry basins.