Wetland water level monitoring based on hydrological unit division using SBAS-InSAR： A case study of Louisiana， the USA

ZHAO Jinq; SHEN Changxu; SI Jinzhao; WANG Zixuan; ZHOU Zhengpei; NIU Yufen; LU Zhong

doi:10.11834/jrs.20265369

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Wetland water level monitoring based on hydrological unit division using SBAS-InSAR： A case study of Louisiana， the USA
Vol. 30, Issue 4, Pages: 1009-1024(2026)
Received：11 September 2025，

Published：07 April 2026
DOI： 10.11834/jrs.20265369
稿件说明：

移动端阅览

赵金奇，沈昶旭，司锦钊，王子璇，周正培，牛玉芬，路中.2026.基于水文单元划分的SBAS-InSAR湿地水位监测方法—以美国路易斯安那州为例.遥感学报，30（4）： 1009-1024 DOI： 10.11834/jrs.20265369.

Zhao J Q， Shen C X， Si J Z， Wang Z X， Zhou Z P， Niu Y F and Lu Z. 2026. Wetland water level monitoring based on hydrological unit division using SBAS-InSAR： A case study of Louisiana， the USA. National Remote Sensing Bulletin， 30（4）：1009-1024 DOI： 10.11834/jrs.20265369.

摘要

作为湿地最重要的生态指标之一，水位直接反映了湿地的水文过程与生态格局，对其进行高效、准确的监测是湿地保护与恢复的关键。合成孔径雷达干涉测量InSAR（Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar）凭借其大范围、全天时全天候和高精度的优势，已被成功应用于湿地水位监测。然而，湿地内部水文连通性存在显著差异，导致传统InSAR技术在大范围水位解算时面临跨水文单元解缠误差以及水位基准不统一等问题。针对上述问题，本文提出了一种基于水文单元划分的短基线集干涉测量SBAS-InSAR（Small Baseline Subset InSAR）湿地绝对水位变化监测方法。首先，利用多期Sentinel-1 SAR影像和全球土地覆盖数据，综合分析研究区水文连通性，将其划分为多个独立的水文单元。进一步，在各水文单元内，构建短基线干涉网络获取相对水位变化时间序列，并结合水文站点数据进行校准。最后，采用最小二乘法获取绝对水位变化的时空分布。以美国路易斯安那州洪泛平原为试验区验证本文方法的有效性，实验结果表明：（1）水文单元划分能够显著提高时序解算的可靠性，总体均方根误差由13.20 cm降至4.03 cm；（2）堤坝与城市等阻隔物显著地改变了湿地水位的空间连续性；（3）C波段在湿地的相干性具有显著季节性差异，深冬—早春最高，夏末—初秋最低，主要受植被物候与淹没状态影响。本文基于水文单元划分的SBAS-InSAR技术可实现大范围、厘米级的湿地水位变化监测，为湿地水资源管理与生态保护提供一定的技术支撑。

Abstract

As one of the most important ecological indicators of wetlands

water levels directly reflect hydrological processes and ecological patterns. Therefore

their efficient and accurate monitoring is critical for wetland conservation and restoration. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR)

with its advantages of wide coverage

all-day/all-weather imaging capability

and high precision

has been successfully applied in monitoring wetland water levels. However

considerable variations in internal hydrological connectivity within wetlands lead to challenges

particularly cross-hydrological-unit phase unwrapping errors and inconsistent water level reference baselines

for conventional InSAR techniques during large-scale water level retrieval. We propose a hydrological-unit-based small baseline subset InSAR (SBAS-InSAR) method for monitoring absolute wetland water level changes to address the above issue. First

multitemporal Sentinel-1 SAR imagery and global land cover data are used to analyze hydrological connectivity comprehensively and divide the study area into multiple independent hydrological units. Then

within each unit

a short baseline interferometric network is constructed to retrieve time-series relative water level changes

which are calibrated by using in situ observations of water levels from hydrological stations. Finally

least-squares estimation is applied to obtain the spatiotemporal distribution of absolute water level changes. The results obtained by taking the floodplain of Louisiana

the USA

as the subject of this case study demonstrate that (1) hydrological unit division significantly improves the reliability of time-series inversion

reducing the overall root mean square error from 13.20 cm to 4.03 cm. (2) Hydraulic barriers

such as levees and urban areas

significantly alter the spatial continuity of variations in wetland water levels. (3) C-band coherence in wetlands exhibits pronounced seasonal differences

being highest in late winter to early spring and lowest in late summer to early autumn

and is mainly affected by vegetation phenology and inundation. Overall

our proposed method enables the centimeter-level

large-scale monitoring of changes in wetland water levels

providing technical support for wetland water resource management and ecological protection.

关键词

Keywords

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