A cloud-based scheme for hydro-dam detection and LULC change across time and space in the Mekong River Basin

Increasing climate variability and rising demand for energy over the past decades have promoted proliferation of hydro-dam constructions along the Mekong River as a strategy to mitigate drought and floods, increase energy production, and secure water for agricultural irrigation. While generating electricity these dams have significantly impacted the hydrological processes and thus ecological processes in the Mekong River Basin (MRB), raising significant socio-ecological issues across sectors, communities and nations within the MRB. To address these issues, information about hydro-dam capacity, regulations and impacts is critically needed but such information is either lacking, inaccurate or incomplete, limited in space and time.

To obtain such critical information, we developed a novel cloud-based, heuristic technique to automatically identify hydro-dam infrastructure information such as the construction start year, commissioned year, and the extent of spatial influence in terms of LULC change by checking and analyzing the time-series of satellite images and related indices. This technique is operable and has been successfully verified throughout the entire MRB. It can be further applied to any of the hydropower plants across the globe, serving to meet the need of a more comprehensive assessment of hydro-dams.

The findings of this study provide solid evidence for researchers engaged in the ongoing situation resulting from the past interventions of river flow in MRB by elucidating the spatial and temporal scale of hydro-dam construction impact. It also allows the public audience to obtain basic information of any hydro-infrastructure project that has ambiguous or vague records.