Fine-Resolution Mapping of Wetland Inundation Dynamics in the Prairie
Pothole Region of the United States
Abstract
The Prairie Pothole Region of North America is characterized by millions
of depressional wetlands, which provide critical habitats for globally
significant populations of migratory waterfowl and other wildlife
species. Due to their relatively small size and shallow depth, these
wetlands are highly sensitive to climate variability and anthropogenic
changes, exhibiting inter- and intra-annual inundation dynamics.
Moderate-resolution satellite imagery (e.g., Landsat, Sentinel) alone
cannot be used to effectively delineate these small depressional
wetlands. By integrating multi-temporal (2009-2018) NAIP aerial imagery
and ancillary geospatial datasets, a fully automated approach was
developed to delineate wetland inundation extent at watershed scales
using Google Earth Engine. Machine learning algorithms were used to
classify aerial imagery with additional spectral indices to extract
potential wetland inundation areas, which were further refined using
ancillary geospatial datasets. The wetland delineation results were then
compared to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands
Inventory (NWI) geospatial dataset and existing global-scale surface
water products to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The
results showed that the proposed method can not only delineate the most
up-to-date wetland inundation status, but also demonstrate wetland
hydrological dynamics, such as wetland coalescence through fill-spill
hydrological processes. The proposed automated algorithm provides a
practical, reproducible, and scalable framework, which can be easily
adapted to delineate wetland inundation dynamics at broad geographic
scales.