Monitoring of water extent and variation of the Poyang Lake using GF-1 remote sensing data

Based on the 76 scenes of GF-1 WFV images in Jun 2013 similar to Jun 2016. After processing, a total of 22 times of Poyang Lake area images. Water extents of Poyang Lake area were extracted by Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and analyzed for water surface variation in time sequence. The results show periodic water extent variation of Poyang Lake. Water area begins to rise faster from April to June, and reaches peak in July and August. Water area gradually declines in September, until January of the following year and reaches the minimum. Poyang Lake annually has its own unique change characteristics. In December 16, 2015, Poyang Lake had abnormal high water level and water area was 2349.31km(2). The variation shows that the main water area and the dish-shaped sublakes surrounding of Poyang Lake change little, and the change of water area in Poyang Lake wetland is obvious.