Water body mapping method with HJ-1A/B satellite imagery

This paper proposes an integrated water body mapping method with HJ-1A/B satellite imagery, the CCD (charge coupled device) data of the Chinese environmental satellites that were launched on September 6th, 2008. It combines the difference between NDVI and NDWI (NDVI–NDWI) with SLOPE and near-infrared (NIR) band. The NDVI–NDWI index is used to enhance the contrast between water bodies and the surrounding surface features; the topographic SLOPE is used to eliminate the mountain shadow; and the NIR band is used to reduce the effects of artificial construction land. The objectives are evaluating the potential of the HJ-1A/B imagery on water body monitoring, and proposing ideally mapping method. The test study results indicated that the NDVI–NDWI index is superior to the single index of NDVI and NDWI to enhance the contrast between water bodies and the rest of the features. On the basis of the accurately mapped water bodies in the HJ-1A/B CCD images of the study area, we conclude that the HJ-1A/B multi-spectral satellite images is an ideal data source for high spatial and temporal resolution water bodies monitoring. And the integrated water body mapping method is suitable for the applications of HJ-1A/B multi-spectral satellite images in this field.