ANALYSIS OF THE SPATIO-TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF WATER MIRRORS IN PERNAMBUCO RESERVOIRS THROUGH REMOTE SENSING

Abstract

In recent years, in the midst of the drought and water crisis that has affected several regions of Brazil, in particular the semiarid region, reservoirs have been constantly monitored. In this context, the objective of this work was to analyze, through Remote Sensing, the dynamics of water mirrors in Pernambuco reservoirs, in order to show how the area of water mirrors was affected by low rainfall, from 2012 to 2017. For this, the Google Earth Engine platform was used to analyze Landsat images. For water delimitation, an enhancement technique was used to convert RGB images to HVS, creating a panchromatic image and facilitating the process of identifying water mirrors. Thus, the results indicated that all reservoirs lost area, and some came to dry completely. Furthermore, the results also suggest that the reservoirs located in the hydrographic basins with the wettest climate presented lower area loss compared to those with drier climates. This information is extremely important for the planning and environmental management of water resources, from the perspective of fostering supply policies and, therefore, expanding the capacity to face problems related to water security.