Long-Term Monitoring of the Flooding Regime and Hydroperiod of Doñana Marshes with Landsat Time Series (1974–2014)

Doñana National Park's marshes exhibit contrasting hydroperiod trends, with the northwestern region experiencing increased flooding duration while the southwestern area shows a steady decline. This finding emerges from a long-term analysis (1974–2014) using Landsat satellite imagery, which identified a reliable threshold in near-infrared reflectance to distinguish flooded areas with high accuracy (Kappa = 0.65). The study employed a semi-automatic classification method based on band 5 reflectance values from TM and ETM+ sensors, validated against extensive ground truth data. By retroactively applying this technique across the entire Landsat archive, researchers reconstructed historical flooding patterns, providing critical insights for hydrodynamic modeling and evaluating management interventions.

Díaz-Delgado, R., Aragonés, D., Afán, I., & Bustamante, J. (2016). Long-Term Monitoring of the Flooding Regime and Hydroperiod of Doñana Marshes with Landsat Time Series (1974–2014). Remote Sensing, 8(9), 775. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8090775