Flood monitoring and analysis over the middle reaches of Yangtze River basin using MODIS time-series imagery

Flood disaster is one of the natural disasters occurred with the highest frequency in china, especially in the middle reaches of Yangtze River. In this paper, the submerged area and dynamic changes of flooding area was monitored using 250m-resolution MODIS images from 2000-2010. Results indicate that the inundated area of the Poyang Lake in 2010 is larger than any other years. The inundated area rose up between 2000 and 2010 for the Poyang Lake, while the inundated area of the east Dongting Lake and the southwest Dongting Lake showed a clear downward trend. The longest duration of fluctuation is up to 5-6 months for the three lakes. Summer is the season with higher frequency of flooding. The submerged depth of three Lakes concentrated in 0-10m which accounts for more than 70%. During 2000-2010, the loss of land area gradually declined, however, the number of affected population has a upward trend.