Qiu et al. (2025) Analysis of spatiotemporal change characteristics of Poyang Lake from 1984 to 2021 based on GEE

Identification

• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-24
• Authors: Hongbin Qiu, Qing Zhang
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-25435-0

Research Groups

Gandong University, Fuzhou, Jiangxi, China

Short Summary

This study analyzed the spatiotemporal changes of Poyang Lake's water area from 1984 to 2021 using satellite imagery and the Google Earth Engine platform, revealing complex interannual and seasonal fluctuations driven by both climate change and human activities.

Objective

• To analyze the spatiotemporal change characteristics of Poyang Lake from 1984 to 2021 to provide a theoretical basis for its protection and management and promote sustainable water use.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Poyang Lake, located in the northern part of Jiangxi Province, China (28° 22′ N–29° 45′ N, 115° 47′ E–116° 45′ E), extending 173 km from north to south.
• Temporal Scale: 1984 to 2021 (38 years), with annual and seasonal analyses.

Methodology and Data

• Models used:
  • Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) for water body extraction.
  • Otsu method for automatic segmentation threshold calculation.
  • Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) method for spatial interpolation of meteorological data.
• Data sources:
  • Landsat series satellite imagery (Landsat 4/5 MSS, Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 8 OLI Collection 2 Tier1 dataset) from Google Earth Engine (GEE).
  • Joint Research Centre (JRC) Global Surface Water dataset from GEE.
  • Daily observation data from three meteorological stations (Lushan, Poyang, Nanchang) from the National Meteorological Science Data Center.

Main Results

• From 1984 to 2021, the interannual variation of Poyang Lake's water area exhibited a pattern of "fluctuation decline—fluctuation rise—overall decline—overall increase".
  • The maximum water area was 3281.75 km² in 1992, and the minimum was 1582.99 km² in 2018.
• Seasonal variation is significant: summer has the largest area (exceeding 3000 km² at its maximum), while winter has the smallest (less than 1500 km² at its minimum). Spring is a rising water period, and autumn is a receding season.
• Spatially, permanent water bodies constituted 34.09% of the lake area, mainly in Jiujiang City.
• Major changes in water area occurred in Yongxiu, Xinjian, Nanchang, and Poyang counties.
• Water body transfer analysis showed that 0.03% of the water area disappeared permanently, and 8.45% changed from permanent to seasonal. New permanent water bodies accounted for 1.31%, and new seasonal water bodies for 7.98%.
• Lake area changes were jointly driven by climate change and human activities.
  • Climate factors: A positive correlation with annual precipitation (correlation coefficient 0.175) and a negative correlation with average annual temperature (correlation coefficient -0.156) were observed, though not statistically significant.
  • Human activities: Agricultural irrigation, reclamation of surrounding lakes, and water conservancy engineering (e.g., Three Gorges Project water storage) contributed to lake area reduction. Implementation of environmental protection policies (e.g., "returning farmland to lakes," ecological migration) was a main factor for increases in lake area.

Contributions

• Provides a long time series (1984–2021) analysis of Poyang Lake's spatiotemporal water area changes using the Google Earth Engine platform, overcoming limitations of traditional methods.
• Details the complex interannual and distinct seasonal variation patterns of the lake's water area.
• Identifies specific spatial regions most affected by water area changes and quantifies water body transfer types (e.g., permanent to seasonal).
• Synthesizes the dual influence of climate change and human activities on lake dynamics, offering insights into specific anthropogenic drivers and policy impacts.
• Offers a theoretical basis for water resources management and sustainable socio-economic development in the Poyang Lake basin.

Funding

This research was partially sponsored by fund of the president of Gandong University with grant number YZJJ202201.

Citation

@article{Qiu2025Analysis,
  author = {Qiu, Hongbin and Zhang, Qing},
  title = {Analysis of spatiotemporal change characteristics of Poyang Lake from 1984 to 2021 based on GEE},
  journal = {Scientific Reports},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1038/s41598-025-25435-0},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-25435-0}
}