Chinese research team builds the first 10-meter-scale dynamic distribution map of lake littoral wetlands

The Wetland Remote Sensing Team at the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, recently released China’s first 10meter spatial resolution dataset of lakeshore wetland dynamic distributions for 2019 to 2023, providing new foundational data for wetland protection and ecological management. This study was completed in Changchun. Using dense timeseries remote sensing data, the team established an automatic identification method, enabling largescale, highprecision monitoring of lakeshore wetlands nationwide and analyzing wetland changes and their driving factors. The study shows that from 2019 to 2023, the lakeshore wetland area of 67.08% of China’s large lakes decreased, with a net reduction of about 2,769.5 square kilometers. Researchers pointed out that changes in watershed runoff are the main influencing factor; in cold regions, rising temperatures and snowmelt have a more pronounced impact, while in arid regions, the changes are mainly affected by precipitation and evaporation. The relevant data can also support ecological research such as waterbird habitat protection and greenhouse gas emission assessment.