Finding water: Reliability of remote-sensing methods in searching for water bodies within diverse landscapes

Abstract Searching for and identification of water bodies (WBs) constitute an integral part of many ecological studies. Because field observations or sophisticated and costly remote sensing techniques (RSTs) cannot always be used, simple methods using freely available data are proposed. The reliability of these techniques in identifying WBs has not yet been experimentally verified, however. This study compares the reliability within various landscape types of five methods/tools in searching for WBs: Google Earth, Landsat 7, Sentinel 2, Open Street Map (OSM), digital water management database (DIBAVOD), and merged layer DOSM (OSM + DIBAVOD). The determined numbers and areas of WBs were compared with values determined by field observation (control). The reliability of all methods improved with increasing WB area. None of the methods was sufficiently accurate to identify WBs smaller than 500 m2. Images from the Landsat 7 and Sentinel 2 satellites were demonstrated to be entirely unusable due to low resolution. Within various landscape types, reliability of the methods was comparable. When working with various techniques it is necessary to be aware of the limitations of each. To increase reliability, we recommend combining methods.

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