Remote Sensing Monitoring and Change Analysis of Wetlands in the Tibetan Plateau

Tibetan Plateau is a region with more concentrated wetland distribution in China, which has always been a sensitive region of global change, and its wetland distribution and change are of great value to the study of the change of water resources and environments in China. Based on Landsat 8 OLI (operation land imager), we adopt the method of object-oriented classification and manual interpretation to obtain the wetland distribution of the Tibetan Plateau in 2016, and the wetland classification data in 2008, as well as the auxiliary data of elevation and watershed boundary. The present situation of wetland distribution and wetland changes in the Tibetan Plateau from 2008 to 2016 were analyzed. The results show that: ① In 2016, the total area of the Tibetan Plateau wetland was 115 584 km², the area of lake wetland was 48 737 km², marsh wetland area was 34 698 km², river wetland area was 15 927 km², flood wetland area was 15 035 km², constructed wetland area was 1 188 km². ② From 2008 to 2016, the total area of wetland in the Tibetan Plateau increased 3 867 km², mainly from the increase of lake, river and flood wetland and the decrease of the marsh wetland. ③ In different watersheds and altitudes, the distribution and variation of wetland in the Tibetan Plateau showed significant regional differences. ④ Both temperature and precipitation in the Tibetan Plateau showed upward trends, which was positively correlated with the overall change of the wetlands; the change of glacier area in drainage basins had a certain correlation with the wetland change; human activities mainly played a negative role in the wetland change of the Tibetan Plateau. This paper provides a useful support for the study of environmental change and wetland conservation in the Tibetan Plateau.