Understanding Changes In Surface Water In The Colorado River Basin Using Remote Sensing Data
Presenter: Patricia Puente P191
Co-Author(s): Laura Condon
Advisor(s): Laura Condon
1Mathematics
The western United States has been experiencing a drought for over two decades. With the rise of climate change and high demand for water supply, we are seeing a decline in water availability at the surface level. We can see these declines through recorded streamflow, major reservoir levels, and remote sensing image data. Previous work has shown a decline in surface water area in California in the recent drought periods using the remote sensing product, the Global Surface Water dataset via Landsat (30 m resolution). Looking at surface water changes in the Colorado River Basin through remote sensing has yet to be done before at a basin scale. In this study, we focus on the changes in surface water area fraction and trends in a pre-drought period and during-drought period. We hypothesize that changes may be caused by transitions in the water regime from permanent to seasonal or seasonal/permanent to no water.