This system monitors the seasonal river course changes of Ayeyarwady River in Myanmar using remote sensing images. The monitoring system enables large geographical coverage of more than 2000 km river length for monitoring seasonal erosion and deposition induced by high monsoonal flows.
Application Purpose
The purpose of this seasonal river morphological monitoring system is to provide a high-quality map of erosion and deposition areas in the village tracts along the Ayeyarwady River, Myanmar after the end of every monsoon season. Leveraging the power of Google Earth Engine to create a long-term historical morphological change map from 1988 – current year, this tool is also vital to identify morphologically active and stable channels. The system has been customized to readily upscale the tool and associated analytics to other river systems.
Application Uses
This tool is useful for broad spectrum of stakeholders in Myanmar with mandates to manage river and land systems. The Directorate of Water Resources and Improvement of River Systems (DWIR), is planning to use this tool to undertake preliminary assessment of morphological changes before initiating detailed post-monsoon survey of river sections needing bank protection. The tool is also useful for General Administration Department (GAD) to identify new land areas created by deposition process. GAD has the mandate to allocate the new land for livelihood purposes. This dataset is useful for Department of Disaster Management (DDM) to identify affected settlements and come up with a preliminary estimate of compensation. The long term (30 year) historical dataset on erosion and deposition areas can help DWIR to identify hotspots and plan appropriate for mitigation and adaptation efforts. With the possibility of addition of census, infrastructure and socio-economic layers, information provided to users can be further enhanced.
