A Study of Water Quality Characteristics in a Deforested Temperate Region with Long-term Landsat Imagery: A Taedong River Case in North Korea

Keywords: Water Quality, Taedong River, North Korea, Remote Sensing, Google Earth Engine(GEE), Landsat
Session Type: Virtual Poster Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 40

Abstract

The Taedong River originates in the mountains of North Korea and flows through Pyongyang. This water resource is closely related to North Koreans’ lives. However, North Koreans are reclaiming mountains due to a lack of food and destroying forests owing to a lack of firewood in winter. Pyongyang continued to industrialize for economic development. For these reasons, the water quality of the Taedong River is expected to be poor, but studies on this are sparse.
Since North Korea is one of the difficult-to-access countries, it is not easy to obtain in situ data. In these situations, remote sensing is currently the most useful method. In this study, the authors analyzed changes in water quality and land use in the Taedong River water body using Google Earth Engine, which provides scientific analysis and visualization based on long-term spatial data sets. From 1984 to 2020, Landsat TM, ETM+, and OLI were used. This study aims to analyze the trend of reflectance change in the spectral band at the pour points of the Taedong River, to find the seasonal difference, and to analyze the correlation between water quality and land cover.
This research is significant in that it analyzed the long-term changes in water quality which are important to the lives of North Koreans. The research methods and findings are expected to be useful in analyzing underdeveloped countries and inaccessible areas where in situ data is insufficient