We are proud that our research article Unraveling the hydrology and sediment balance of an ungauged lake in the Sudano-Sahelian region of West Africa using remote sensing has been published in the Journal Earth Surface Dynamics. With innovative methodologies and at the example of Lac Wégnia in Mali we demonstrate how remote sensing can be used to monitor freshwater resources in semi-arid and arid regions and identify the drivers of change.
Wetlands in sub-Saharan West Africa are under increasing pressure due to climatic changes, population growth, and land degradation. We show that the ecosystem of the Lac Wégnia Ramsar site is at risk due to progressive erosion through the natural levee at the lake outlet, which is dramatically reducing the lake's water storage potential.
This study goes beyond the current state-of-the-art in monitoring water bodies from space, as it presents a new method for the quantification of sediment erosion and deposition rates within areas that are periodically underwater. The method has numerous potential applications, and could be extended to study coastal erosion processes or sediment movement within rivers.
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