Monitoring the Dynamics of Ephemeral Rivers from Space: An Example of the Kuiseb River in Namibia

Abstract

Ephemeral rivers are characterized by brief episodic flood events, which recharge subterraean alluvial aquifers that sustain humans, riparian vegetation, and wildlife in the hyper-arid Namib Desert. Yet we only have a poor understanding of the dynamics and feedback mechanisms in these hydrological systems as arid and semi-arid zones are typically poorly equipped with reliable in situ monitoring stations to provide necessary information. The main objective of our study is to show the potential of satellite data to monitor the dynamics of ephemeral rivers, such as the Kuiseb located in Namibia, since remotesensing offers the advantage of adapted spatial and temporal resolutions. For this study, multi-spectral imagery (Sentinel-2), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR, Sentinel-1), and SAR interferometry (Sentinel-1) data were used to produce Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) maps, backscattering maps (as σ0), and interferograms, respectively. These parameters provide information on the hydrologic and vegetation dynamics of the river. Strong variations in NDVI, σ0, and interferograms are observed during March–April 2017 and June–July 2018 in a tributary of the Kuiseb in the central Namib Desert. In those years, rain events caused the reactivation of the tributary. However, during a major flood in 2021, when no rain occured, no variations in NDVI were detected in this tributary, unlike the σ0 and interferogram anomalies after the flood. Thus, these variations cannot be explained by rains, which were non-existent during this period, but seem to be linked to the dynamics of the aquifer of the Kuiseb River, wherein floods recharge the alluvial aquifers and the rising water table levels produce a signal that is measurable by satellite radar sensors. All these results present a preliminary work that might be used by water resource managers to automate the processing and methods used to create an ephemeral river monitoring tool.