Geoinformation modeling of ecosystems based on the basin approach

Abstract

The basin approach is an effective tool for the organization and administration of environmental management at the regional and interregional levels. Statistical processing of basin information makes it possible to comprehensively assess the ecology of river catchment areas of different hierarchical levels. Assessing the state of unique natural characteristics for each basin and identifying relationships between them is a complex task that requires the use of various methods and technologies of geoinformation modeling using a variety of ground and satellite data. The elementary territorial unit in this work is the minimum watersheds of the pilot area of four watersheds in Eastern Siberia with an average area of about 1 ha. For each basin, a set of attributes of unique natural characteristics is formed, which are obtained on the basis of ground-based research and satellite data, as well as climate models. Such a set of attributes makes it possible to assess the state of the territory based on various methods of mathematical modeling, statistical and cluster analysis. Basin modeling of the territory was performed on the basis of a hydrologically correct digital relief model MERIT DEM Hydro. Based on Terra/MODIS satellite information, data on temperature, vegetation indices, and vegetation cover were obtained for each catchment area. According to the data of the NASA GPM and NCEP GFS reanalysis, data on accumulated precipitation were generated for all elementary watersheds. An analysis of the seasonal dynamics of surface temperature in the study area was carried out, and statistical distributions of changes in surface temperature during the year were obtained for each watershed. The sum of active air temperatures above 10°C was calculated. Statistical values and average annual characteristics of trends in the vegetation indices NDVI, SAVI and LAI for each basin were obtained. The created geoinformation model is a tool for ensuring the tasks of assessing the state of ecosystems based on the landscape-basin approach. The necessary methods and technologies for creating, storing and processing data for each watershed have been developed.