Integration of hyperspectral and LiDAR data for mapping small water bodies

Inland water bodies are globally threatened by environmental degradation and climate change. On the other hand, new water bodies can be designed during landscape restoration (e.g. after coal mining). Effective management of new water resources requires continuous monitoring; in situ surveys are, however, extremely time-demanding. Remote sensing has been widely used for identifying water bodies. However, the use of optical imagery is constrained by accuracy problems related to the difficulty in distinguishing water features from other surfaces with low albedo, such as tree shadows. This is especially true when mapping water bodies of different sizes. To address these problems, we evaluated the potential of integrating hyperspectral data with LiDAR (hereinafter “integrative approach”). The study area consisted of several spoil heaps containing heterogeneous water bodies with a high variability of shape and size. We utilized object-based classification (Support Vector Machine) based on: (i) hyperspectral data; (ii) LiDAR variables; (iii) integration of both datasets. Besides, we classified hyperspectral data using pixel-based approaches (K-mean, spectral angle mapper). Individual approaches (hyperspectral data, LiDAR data and integrative approach) resulted in 2–22.4 % underestimation of the water surface area (i.e, omission error) and 0.4–1.5 % overestimation (i.e., commission error).The integrative approach yielded an improved discrimination of open water surface compared to other approaches (omission error of 2 % and commission error of 0.4 %). We also evaluated the success of detecting individual ponds; the integrative approach was the only one capable of detecting the water bodies with both omission and commission errors below 10 %. Finally, the assessment of misclassification reasons showed a successful elimination of shadows in the integrative approach. Our findings demonstrate that the integration of hyperspectral and LiDAR data can greatly improve the identification of small water bodies and can be applied in practice to support mapping of restoration process.