Effects of landscape changes on water quality: A global meta-analysis.

Landscape changes resulting from anthropogenic activities and climate changes severely impact surface water quality. A global perspective on understanding their relationship is a prerequisite for pursuing equity in water security and sustainable development. A sequent meta-analysis synthesizing 625 regional studies from 63 countries worldwide was conducted to analyze the impacts on water quality from changing landscape compositions in the catchment and explore the moderating factors and temporal evolution. Results exhibit that total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in water are mostly concerned and highly responsive to landscape changes. Expansion of urban lands fundamentally degraded worldwide water quality over the past 20 years, of which the arid areas tended to suffer more harsh deterioration. Increasing forest cover, particularly low-latitude forests, significantly decreased the risk of water pollution, especially biological and heavy metal contamination, suggesting the importance of forest restoration in global urbanization. The effect size of agricultural land changes on water quality was spatially scale-dependent, decreasing and then increasing with the buffer radius expanding. Wetland coverage positively correlated with organic matter in water typified by COD, and the correlation coefficient peaked in the boreal areas (r=0.82, p<0.01). Overall, the global impacts of landscape changes on water quality have been intensifying since the 1990s. Nevertheless, knowledge gaps still exist in developing areas, especially in Africa and South America, where the water quality is sensitive to landscape changes and is expected to experience dramatic shifts in foreseeable future development. Our study revealed the worldwide consistency and heterogeneity between regions, thus serving as a research roadmap to address the quality-induced global water scarcity under landscape changes and to direct the management of land and water.

Long-term monitoring chlorophyll-a concentration using HJ-1 A/B imagery and machine learning algorithms in typical lakes, a cold semi-arid region.

Chlorophyll a (Chl-a) in lakes serves as an effective marker for assessing algal biomass and the nutritional level of lakes, and its observation is feasible through remote sensing methods. HJ-1 (Huanjing-1) satellite, deployed in 2008, incorporates a CCD capable of a 30 m resolution and has a revisit interval of 2 days, rendering it a superb choice or supplemental sensor for monitoring trophic state of lakes. For effective long-term and regional-scale mapping, both the imagery and the evaluation of machine learning algorithms are essential. The several typical machine learning algorithms, i.e., Support Vector Regression (SVR), Gradient Boosting Decision Trees (GBDT), XGBoost (XGB), Random Forest (RF), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Kernel Ridge Regression (KRR), and Multi-Layer Perception Network (MLP), were developed using our in-situ measured Chl-a. A cross-validation grid to identify the most effective hyperparameter combinations for each algorithm was used, as well as the selected optimal superparameter combinations. In Chl-a mapping of three typical lakes, the R2 of GBDT, XGB, RF, and KRR all reached 0.90, while XGB algorithm also exhibited stable performance with the smallest error (RMSE = 3.11 µg/L). Adjustments were made to align the Chl-a spatial-temporal patterns with past data, utilizing HJ1-A/B CCD images mapping through XGB algorithm, which demonstrates its stability. Our results highlight the considerable effectiveness and utility of HJ-1 A/B CCD imagery for evaluation and monitoring trophic state of lakes in a cold arid region, providing the application cases contribute to the ongoing efforts to monitor water qualities.

Variations in surface area and biogeochemistry of subarctic-arctic lakes established through satellite and in-situ observations: An overview of published research from the past 30 years.

Human activities have strongly impacted the global climate, and during the last few decades the global average temperature has risen at a rate faster than at any time on record. High latitude lakes in the subarctic and arctic permafrost regions have particularly been vulnerable given the "Arctic amplification" phenomenon and acceleration in warming rate in the northern hemisphere (0.2-0.8 °C/decade). This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the last 30 years of research investigating how subarctic and Arctic lakes respond to climate warming. The review focused on studies where remote sensing technology was used to quantify these responses. The difference between summer lake water temperature and air temperature varied between 1.7 and 5.4 °C in subarctic lakes and 2.4-3.2 °C in Arctic lakes. Overall, the freezing date of lake ice is generally delayed and the date of lake thawing occurs earlier. Lake surface area (4-48.5 %), and abundance in the subarctic and Arctic region have increased significantly due to rising temperature, permafrost thawing, increased precipitation and other localized surface disturbances. However, in recent years, instances of lake shrinkage (between -0.4 % and -40 %) have also been reported, likely due to riparian overflow, groundwater infiltration and lateral drainage. Furthermore, in subarctic and Arctic lakes, climate change and permafrost thawing would release CO2 and CH4, and alter carbon dynamics in impacted lakes through various interconnected processes which could potentially affect the quality of carbon (terrestrial, algae) entering a lake system. The review also highlighted a potential intersection between permafrost melting and public health through human exposure to long-buried viruses. Subarctic and arctic ecosystems' responses to climate change will continue to be an area of intense research interest, and this review has highlighted priority areas for research and how remote sensing technologies can facilitate the pursuit of such a research agenda.

A novel hierarchical approach to insight to spectral characteristics in surface water of karst wetlands and estimate its non-optically active parameters using field hyperspectral data.

Wetlands cover only around 6 % of the Earth's land surface, and are recognized as one of the three major ecosystems, alongside forests and oceans. The ecological structure and function of karst wetlands are unique due to the influence of geologic structure. At present, the unclear spectral morphology of surface water in karst wetlands poses a significant challenge in remote sensing estimation of non-optically active water quality parameters (NAWQPs). This study proposed a novel multi-scale spectral morphology feature extraction (MSFE) method to insight to spectral characteristics in surface water of karst wetlands, and further screen the sensitive features of NAWQPs. Then we constructed three remote sensing inversion strategies for NAWQPs (TN, TP, NH3_N, DO), including direct estimation, indirect estimation, and auxiliary estimation. Finally, we constructed a novel pH-based hierarchical analysis framework (pH_HA) to thoroughly explore the influence of alkalinity-biased characteristics of karst water on the spectral domain of NAWQPs and its estimation accuracy using in-situ hyperspectral data, respectively. We found that the spectral characteristics of karst waters at the first reflectance peak (580 nm) differed significantly from other water body types. The MSFE successfully captured the sensitive spectral domains for NAWQPs, and focused on between 500 and 600 nm and 900-960 nm. The sensitive features captured by MSFE improved estimation accuracy of NAWQPs (R2 >0.9). Direct estimation presented more stable performance compared to the auxiliary estimation (average RMSE of 0.366 mg/L), and the auxiliary estimation model further improved the retrieval accuracy of TN compared to direct estimation model (R2 increasing from 0.43 to 0.56). The novel hierarchical framework clearly revealed the notable changes in the sensitive spectral domains of NAWQPs under different pH values, and enabled more precise determination of spectral subdomains of NAWQPs, and identified the optimal spectral features. The pH_HA framework effectively improved the estimation accuracy of NAWQPs (R2 increased from 0.514 to over 0.9), and the estimation accuracies (R2) of four NAWQPs were all more than 0.9 when the pH value was over 8.5. Our works provide an effective approach for monitoring water quality in karst wetlands.

Analysis of taiga and tundra lake browning trends from 2002 to 2021 using MODIS data.

Lakes in taiga and tundra regions may be silently undergoing changes due to global warming. One of those changes is browning in lake color. The browning interacts with the carbon cycle, ecosystem dynamics, and water quality in freshwater systems. However, spatiotemporal variabilities of browning in these regions have not been well documented. Using MODIS remote sensing reflectance at near ultraviolet wavelengths from 2002 to 2021 on the Google Earth Engine platform, we quantified long-term browning trends across 7616 lakes (larger than 10 km2) in taiga and tundra biomes. These lakes showed an overall decreased trend in browning (Theil-Sen Slope = 0.00015), with ∼36% of these lakes showing browning trends, and ∼1% of these lakes showing statistically significant (p-value <0.05) browning trends. The browning trends more likely occurred in small lakes in high latitude, low ground ice content regions, where air temperature increased and precipitation decreased. While temperature is projected to increase in response to climate change, our results provide one means to understand how biogeochemical cycles and ecological dynamics respond to climate change.

Spatial variations of DOM in a diverse range of lakes across various frozen ground zones in China: Insights into molecular composition.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays a significant role in aquatic biogeochemical processes and the carbon cycle. As global climate warming continues, it is anticipated that the composition of DOM in lakes will be altered. This could have significant ecological and environmental implications, particularly in frozen ground zones. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the spatial variations and molecular composition of DOM in lakes within various frozen ground zones. In this study, we examined the spatial variations of in-lake DOM both quantitatively, focusing on dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and qualitatively, by evaluating optical properties and conducting molecular characterization using Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS). Lakes in cold regions retained more organic carbon compared to those in warmer regions, the comparison of the mean value of DOC concentration of all sampling sites in the same frozen ground zone showed that the highest mean lake DOC concentration found in the permafrost zone at 21.4 ± 19.3 mg/L. We observed decreasing trends in E2:E3 and MLBL, along with increasing trends in SUVA254 and AImod, along the gradually warming ground. These trends suggest lower molecular weight, reduced aromaticity, and increased molecular lability of in-lake DOM in the permafrost zone compared to other frozen ground zones. Further FT-ICR MS characterization revealed significant molecular-level heterogeneity of DOM, with the lowest abundance of assigned DOM molecular formulas found in lakes within permafrost zones. In all studied zones, the predominant molecular formulas in-lake DOM were compounds consisted by CHO elements, accounting for 40.1 % to 63.1 % of the total. Interestingly, the percentage of CHO exhibited a gradual decline along the warming ground, while there was an increasing trend in nitrogen-containing compounds (CHON%). Meanwhile, a substantial number of polyphenols were identified, likely due to the higher rates of DOM mineralization and the transport of terrestrial DOM derived from vascular plants under the elevated temperature and precipitation conditions in the warming region. In addition, sulfur-containing compounds (CHOS and CHNOS) associated with synthetic surfactants and agal derivatives were consistently detected, and their relative abundances exhibited higher values in seasonal and short-frozen ground zones. This aligns with the increased anthropogenic disturbances to the lake's ecological environment in these two zones. This study reported the first description of in-lake DOM at the molecular level in different frozen ground zones. These findings underline that lakes in the permafrost zone serve as significant hubs for carbon processing. Investigating them may expand our understanding of carbon cycling in inland waters.

Extraction of eutrophic and green ponds from segmentation of high-resolution imagery based on the EAF-Unet algorithm.

Inland ponds exhibit remarkable ubiquity across the globe, playing a vital role in the sustainability of global continental freshwater resources and contributing significantly to their biodiversity. Numerous ponds are eutrophic and experience recurrent seasonal or year-round algal blooms or persistent duckweed cover, conferring a characteristic green hue. Here, we denote these eutrophic and green ponds as EGPs. The excessive proliferation of algal blooms and duckweed within these EGPs poses a significant threat to the ecological functioning of these aquatic systems, which can lead to hypoxia or the release of microcystins. To identify these EGPs automatically, we constructed an Efficient Attention Fusion Unet (EAF-Unet) algorithm using Gaofen-2 (GF2) panchromatic and multispectral imagery. The attention mechanism was incorporated in Unet to help better detect EGPs. Using the first EGP labeled dataset, we determined the best input feature combination (RGB, NIR, NDVI, and Bright) and the most effective encoding (Rasnet50) for EAF-Unet for distinguishing EGPs from other ground cover types. The evaluation indices - Precision (0.81), Recall (0.79), F1-Score (0.80), and Intersection over Union (IoU, 0.67) - indicate that EAF-Unet can accurately and robustly extract EGPs from GF2 images without relying on pond water masks. Remote-sensing EGP products can assist in identifying ponds with severe eutrophication. Moreover, these products can serve as references for identifying high-risk areas prone to improper sewage discharge or inadequate sewer construction.

Re-estimating China's lake CO2 flux considering spatiotemporal variability.

The spatiotemporal variability of lake partial carbon dioxide pressure (pCO2) introduces uncertainty into CO2 flux estimates at the lake water-air interface. Knowing the variation pattern of pCO2 is important for obtaining accurate global estimation. Here we examine seasonal and trophic variations in lake pCO2 based on 13 field campaigns conducted in Chinese lakes from 2017 to 2021. We found significant seasonal fluctuations in pCO2, with decreasing values as trophic states intensify within the same region. Saline lakes exhibit lower pCO2 levels than freshwater lakes. These pCO2 dynamics result in variable areal CO2 emissions, with lakes exhibiting different trophic states (oligotrophication > mesotrophication > eutrophication) and saline lakes differing from freshwater lakes (-23.1 ± 17.4 vs. 19.3 ± 18.3 mmol m-2 d-1). These spatiotemporal pCO2 variations complicate total CO2 emission estimations. Using area proportions of lakes with varying trophic states and salinity in China, we estimate China's lake CO2 flux at 8.07 Tg C yr-1. In future studies, the importance of accounting for lake salinity, seasonal dynamics, and trophic states must be noticed to enhance the accuracy of large-scale carbon emission estimates from lake ecosystems in the context of climate change.

Microcystins risk assessment in lakes from space: Implications for SDG 6.1 evaluation.

Cyanobacterial blooms release a large number of algal toxins (e.g., Microcystins, MCs) and seriously threaten the safety of drinking water sources what the SDG 6.1 pursues (to provide universal access to safe drinking water by 2030, United Nations Sustainable Development Goal). Nevertheless, algal toxins in lake water have not been routinely monitored and evaluated well and frequently so far. In this study, a total of 100 large lakes (>25 km2) in densely populated eastern China were studied, and a remote sensing scheme of human health risks from MCs based on Sentinel-3 OLCI data was developed. The spatial and temporal dynamics of MCs risk in eastern China lakes since OLCI satellite observation data (2016-2021) were first mapped. The results showed that most of the large lakes in eastern China (80 out of 100) were detected with the occurrence of a high risk of more than 1 pixel (300×300 m) at least once. Fortunately, in terms of lake areas, the frequency of high human health risks in most waters (70.93% of total lake areas) was as less as 1%. This indicates that drinking water intakes can be set in most waters from the perspective of MCs, yet the management departments are required to reduce cyanobacterial blooms. This study highlights the potential of satellite in monitoring and assessing the risk of algal toxins and ensuring drinking water safety. It is also an important reference for SDG 6.1 reporting for lakes that lack routine monitoring.

Remote estimation of phycocyanin concentration in inland waters based on optical classification.

In recent years, under the dual pressure of climate change and human activities, the cyanobacteria blooms in inland waters have become a threat to global aquatic ecosystems and the environment. Phycocyanin (PC), a diagnostic pigment of cyanobacteria, plays an essential role in the detection and early warning of cyanobacterial blooms. In this context, accurate estimation of PC concentration in turbid waters by remote sensing is challenging due to optical complexity and weak optical signal. In this study, we collected a comprehensive dataset of 640 pairs of in situ measured pigment concentration and the Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI) reflectance from 25 lakes and reservoirs in China during 2020-2022. We then developed a framework consisting of the water optical classification algorithm and three candidate algorithms: baseline height, band ratio, and three-band algorithm. The optical classification method used remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) baseline height in three bands: Rrs(560), Rrs(647) and Rrs(709) to classify the samples into five types, each with a specific spectral shape and water quality character. The improvement of PC estimation accuracy for optically classified waters was shown by comparison with unclassified waters with RMSE = 72.6 µg L-1, MAPE = 80.4 %, especially for the samples with low PC concentration. The results show that the band ratio algorithm has a strong universality, which is suitable for medium turbid and clean water. In addition, the three-band algorithm is only suitable for medium turbid water, and the line height algorithm is only suitable for high PC content water. Furthermore, the five distinguished types with significant differences in the value of the PC/Chla ratio well indicated the risk rank assessment of cyanobacteria. In conclusion, the proposed framework in this paper solved the problem of PC estimation accuracy problem in optically complex waters and provided a new strategy for water quality inversion in inland waters.

China's wetland soil organic carbon pool: New estimation on pool size, change, and trajectory.

Robust estimates of wetland soil organic carbon (SOC) pools are critical to understanding wetland carbon dynamics in the global carbon cycle. However, previous estimates were highly variable and uncertain, due likely to the data sources and method used. Here we used machine learning method to estimate SOC storage and their changes over time in China's wetlands based on wetland SOC density database, associated geospatial environmental data, and recently published wetland maps. We built a database of wetland SOC density in China that contains 809 samples from 181 published studies collected over the last 20 years as presented in the published literature. All samples were extended and standardized to a 1-m depth, on the basis of the relationship between SOC density data from soil profiles of different depths. We used three different machine learning methods to evaluate their robustness in estimating wetland SOC storage and changes in China. The results indicated that random forest model achieved accurate wetland SOC estimation with R2 being .65. The results showed that average SOC density of top 1 m in China's wetlands was 25.03 ± 3.11 kg C m-2 in 2000 and 26.57 ± 3.73 kg C m-2 in 2020, an increase of 6.15%. SOC storage change from 4.73 ± 0.58 Pg in 2000 to 4.35 ± 0.61 Pg in 2020, a decrease of 8.03%, due to 13.6% decreased in wetland area from 189.12 × 103 to 162.8 × 103 km2 in 2020, despite the increase in SOC density during the same time period. The carbon accumulation rate was 107.5 ± 12.4 g C m-2 year-1 since 2000 in wetlands with no area changes. Climate change caused variations in wetland SOC density, and a future warming and drying climate would lead to decreases in wetland SOC storage. Estimates under Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 1-2.6 (low-carbon emissions) suggested that wetland SOC storage in China would not change significantly by 2100, but under Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 5-8.5 (high-carbon emissions), it would decrease significantly by approximately 5.77%. In this study, estimates of wetland SOC storage were optimized from three aspects, including sample database, wetland extent, and estimation method. Our study indicates the importance of using consistent SOC density and extent data in estimating and projecting wetland SOC storage.

Effects of cropland reclamation on soil organic carbon in China's black soil region over the past 35 years.

The long-term use of cropland and cropland reclamation from natural ecosystems led to soil degradation. This study investigated the effect of the long-term use of cropland and cropland reclamation from natural ecosystems on soil organic carbon (SOC) content and density over the past 35 years. Altogether, 2140 topsoil samples (0-20 cm) were collected across Northeast China. Landsat images were acquired from 1985 to 2020 through Google Earth Engine, and the reflectance of each soil sample was extracted from the Landsat image that its time was consistent with sampling. The hybrid model that included two individual SOC prediction models for two clustering regions was built for accurate estimation after k-means clustering. The probability hybrid model, a combination between the hybrid model and classification probabilities of pixels, was introduced to enhance the accuracy of SOC mapping. Cropland reclamation results were extracted from the land cover time-series dataset at a 5-year interval. Our study indicated that: (1) Long-term use of cropland led to a 3.07 g kg-1 and 6.71 Mg C ha-1 decrease in SOC content and density, respectively, and the decrease of SOC stock was 0.32 Pg over the past 35 years; (2) nearly 64% of cropland had a negative change in terms of SOC content from 1985 to 2020; (3) cropland reclamation track changed from high to low SOC content, and almost no cropland was reclaimed on the "Black soils" after 2005; (4) cropland reclamation from wetlands resulted in the highest decrease, and reclamation period of years 31-35 decreased when SOC density and SOC stock were 16.05 Mg C ha-1 and 0.005 Pg, respectively, while reclamation period of years 26-30 from forest witnessed SOC density and stock decreases of 8.33 Mg C ha-1 and 0.01 Pg, respectively. Our research results provide a reference for SOC change in the black soil region of Northeast China and can attract more attention to the area of the protection of "Black soils" and natural ecosystems.

Response of total suspended matter to natural and anthropogenic factors since 1990 in China's large lakes.

Total suspended matter (TSM) as a critical water quality parameter is closely linked with nutrients, micropollutants, and heavy metals threatening the ecological health of aquatic ecosystems. However, the long-term spatiotemporal dynamics of lake TSM in China and their response to natural and anthropogenic factors are rarely explored. In this study, based on Landsat top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance embedded in GEE and in-situ TSM data collecting in the periods 2014-2020, we developed a unified empirical model (R2 = 0.87, RMSE = 10.16 mg/L, and MAPE = 38.37 %) to retrieve the autumn TSM of lakes at national scale. This model exhibited stable and reliable performances through transferability validation and comparative analysis with published TSM models, and was implemented to generate autumn TSM maps for large lakes (≥50 km2) across China during 1990-2020.We found that 78.03 % of large lakes with TSM < 20 mg/L were dominant in 2020 across China, and these lakes were mainly located in the plateau and mountain regions. In the first gradient terrain (FGT) and second gradient terrain (SGT), the number of lakes showing significant (p < 0.05) decreasing TSM trends increased from 1990-2004 to 2004-2020, while those with opposite directions in TSM decreased. Lakes in the third gradient terrain (TGT) exhibited the inverse quantitative change in these two TSM trends compared with the FGT and SGT. A relative contribution analysis at the watershed level indicated that the first two leading factors that control TSM significant change in the FGT were lake area and wind speed, in the SGT were lake area and NDVI, and in the TGT were population and NDVI, respectively. The impacts of anthropogenic factors on lakes are continuing, particularly in eastern China, and more efforts are needed to improve and protect the water environment in the future. Our findings might help water resource managers better grasp the current state of water quality.

Mapping global distribution of mangrove forests at 10-m resolution.

Mangrove forests deliver incredible ecosystem goods and services and are enormously relevant to sustainable living. An accurate assessment of the global status of mangrove forests warrants the necessity of datasets with sufficient information on spatial distributions and patch patterns. However, existing datasets were mostly derived from âˆ¼30 m resolution satellite imagery and used pixel-based image classification methods, which lacked spatial details and reasonable geo-information. Here, based on Sentinel-2 imagery, we created a global mangrove forest dataset at 10-m resolution, namely, High-resolution Global Mangrove Forests (HGMF_2020), using object-based image analysis and random forest classification. We then analyzed the status of global mangrove forests from the perspectives of conservation, threats, and resistance to ocean disasters. We concluded the following: (1) globally, there were 145,068 km2 mangrove forests in 2020, among which Asia contained the largest coverage (39.2%); at the country level, Indonesia had the largest amount of mangrove forests, followed by Brazil and Australia. (2) Mangrove forests in South Asia were estimated to be in the better status due to the higher proportion of conservation and larger individual patch size; in contrast, mangrove forests in East and Southeast Asia were facing intensive threats. (3) Nearly, 99% of mangrove forest areas had a patch width greater than 100 m, suggesting that nearly all mangrove forests were efficient in reducing coastal wave energy and impacts. This study reports an innovative and up-to-date dataset and comprehensive information on mangrove forests status to contribute to related research and policy implementation, especially for supporting sustainable development.

Unbalanced impacts of nature and nurture factors on the phenology, area and intensity of algal blooms in global large lakes: MODIS observations.

Under the influence of climate warming and human activities, many large lakes have experienced an increase in eutrophication and algal blooms. Although these trends have been identified using low temporal resolution (~16 days) satellites such as those of the Landsat missions, the opportunity to compare high-frequency spatiotemporal variations of algal bloom characteristics between lakes has not been explored. In the present study, we explore daily satellite observations by developing a universal, practical, and robust algorithm to identify the spatiotemporal distribution of algal bloom dynamics in large lakes (>500 km2) across the globe. Data from 161 lakes, taken from 2000 to 2020 showed an average accuracy of 79.9 %. Algal blooms were detected in 44 % of all lakes, with a higher incidence in temperate lakes (67 % of all temperate lakes), followed by tropical lakes (59 %) compared to lakes in arid climates (23 %). We found positive trends in bloom area and frequency (p < 0.05), as well as an earlier bloom time (p < 0.05). Climate factors were found to be linked to changes in annual initial bloom time (44 %); while an increase in human activities was associated to bloom duration (49 %), area (max percent: 53 %, mean percent: 45 %), and frequency (46 %). The study shows the evolution of daily algal blooms and their phenology in global large lakes for the first time. Such information enhances our understanding of algal bloom dynamics and their drivers, with important considerations to improve the management of large lake ecosystems.

Remote sensing of fluorescent humification levels and its potential environmental linkages in lakes across China.

The pollution or eutrophication affected by dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition and sources of inland waters had attracted concerns from the public and government in China. Combined with remote sensing techniques, the fluorescent DOM (FDOM) parameters accounted for the important part of optical constituent as chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) was a useful tool to trace relative DOM sources and assess the trophic states for large-scale regions comprehensively and timely. Here, the objective of this research is to calibrate and validate a general model based on Landsat 8 OLI product embedded in Google Earth Engine (GEE) for deriving humification index (HIX) based on EEMs in lakes across China. The Landsat surface reflectance was matched with 1150 pairs fieldtrip samples and the nine sensitive spectral variables with good correlation with HIX were selected as the inputs in machine learning methods. The calibration of XGBoost model (R2 = 0.86, RMSE = 0.29) outperformed other models. Our results indicated that the entire dataset of HIX has a strong association with Landsat reflectance, yielding low root mean square error between measured and predicted HIX (R2 = 0.81, RMSE = 0.42) for lakes in China. Finally, the optimal XGBoost model was used to calculate the spatial distribution of HIX of 2015 and 2020 in typical lakes selected from the Report on the State of the Ecology and Environment in China. The significant decreasing of HIX from 2015 to 2020 with trophic states showed positive control of humification level of lakes based on the published document of Action plan for prevention and control of water pollution in 2015 of China. The calibrated model would greatly facilitate FDOM monitoring in lakes, and provide indicators for relative DOM sources to evaluate the impact of water protection measures or human disturbance effect from Covid-19 lockdown, and offer the government supervision to improve the water quality management for lake ecosystems.

Composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in lakes responds to the trophic state and phytoplankton community succession.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM), a heterogeneous mixture of diverse compounds with different molecular weights, is crucial for the lake carbon cycle. The properties and concentration of DOM in lakes are closely related to anthropogenic activities, terrigenous input, and phytoplankton growth. Thus, the lake's trophic state, along with the above factors, has an important effect on DOM. We determined the DOM sources and molecular composition in six lakes along a trophic gradient during and after phytoplankton bloom by combining optical techniques and the Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS). CDOM pools in eutrophic lakes may be more biologically refractory than in oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes. Molecular formulas of DOM were positively correlated with the TSI (trophic state index) value (R2 = 0.73), with the nitrogen-containing compounds (CHON) being the most abundant formulas in all studied lakes. Eutrophication modified the molecular formulas of DOM to have less CHO% and more heteroatom S-containing compounds (CHOS% and CHNOS%), and this was the synactic result of the anthropogenic perturbation and phytoplankton proliferation. In eutrophic lakes, summer DOM showed higher molecular lability than in autumn, which was related to the seasonal phytoplankton community succession. Although the phytoplankton-derived DOM is highly bioavailable, we detected a simpler and more fragile phytoplankton community ecosystem in autumn, which may be accompanied by a lower phytoplankton production and metabolic activity. Therefore, we concluded that the lake eutrophication increased the allochthonous DOM accumulation along with sewage and nutrient input, and subsequently increased its release with phytoplankton bloom. Eutrophication and phytoplankton growth are accompanied by more highly unsaturated compounds, O3S+O5S compounds, and carboxylic-rich alicyclic compounds (CRAMs), which are the biotransformation product of phytoplankton-derived DOM. Eutrophication may be a potential source of refractory DOM compounds for biodegradation and photodegradation. Our results can clarify the potential role of water organic matter in the future global carbon cycle processes, considering the increasing worldwide eutrophication of inland waters.

Variation of satellite-derived total suspended matter in large lakes with four types of water storage across the Tibetan Plateau, China.

Total suspended matter (TSM), as an indicator of the concentration of fine materials in the water column including particulate nutrients, pollutants, and heavy metals, is widely used to monitor aquatic ecosystems. However, the long-term spatiotemporal variations of TSM in lakes across the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and their response to environmental factors are rarely explored. Accordingly, taking advantage of the Landsat top-of-atmosphere reflectance and in-situ data, an empirical model (R2 = 0.83, RMSE = 1.08 mg/L, and MAPE = 19.49 %) was developed to estimate the average autumnal TSM in large TP lakes (≥50 km2) during the 1990-2020 period. For analyzing the spatiotemporal variability in TP lakes TSM, the examined lakes were classified into four types (Type A-D) based on their water storage changing in different periods. The results showed that the lakes in the southern and some northeastern parts of the TP exhibited lower TSM values than those situated in other regions. The assessment of TSM in each of these four lake types showed that more than half of them had a TSM value of <20 mg/L. Apart from Type D, the lakes with the TSM showing significantly decreasing trends were dominantly Types A-C. A relative contribution analysis involving five driving factors indicated that they contributed by >50 % to lake TSM interannual variation in 73 out of 114 watersheds, and the lakes area change demonstrated the greatest contribution (82.2 %), followed by wind speed (11.0 %). Further comparison between the entire lake and the non-expansive regions suggested that the expansive region played an indispensable role in determining the TSM value of the whole lake. This study can help to better understand the water quality condition and provide valuable information for policy-makers to maintain sustainable development in the TP region.

Natural versus anthropogenic controls on the dissolved organic matter chemistry in lakes across China: Insights from optical and molecular level analyses.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays an essential role in the global carbon biogeochemical cycle for aquatic ecosystems. The complexity of DOM compounds contributes to the accurate monitoring of its sources and compositions from large-scale patterns to microscopic molecular groups. Here, this study demonstrates the diverse sources and compositions for humic-rich lakes and protein-rich lakes for large-scale regions across China with the linkage to optical components and molecular high-resolution mass spectrometry properties. The total fluorescence intensity of colored DOM (CDOM) for humic-rich lake regions (0.176 Raman unit; R.U.) is significantly (p<0.05) higher than that of the protein-rich lake region (0.084 R.U.). The combined percentages of CDOM absorption variance explained by the anthropogenic and climatic variables across the five lake regions of Northeastern lake region (NLR), Yungui Plateau lake region (YGR), Inner Mongolia-Xinjiang lake region (MXR), Eastern lake region (ELR), and Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau lake region (TQR) were 86.25%, 82.57%, 80.23%, 88.55%, and 87.72% respectively. The averaged relative intensity percentages of CHOS and CHONS formulas from humic-rich lakes (90.831‰, 10.561‰) were significantly higher than that from the protein-like lakes (47.484‰, 5.638‰), respectively. The more complex molecular composition with higher aromaticity occurred in the humic-rich lakes than in the protein-rich lakes. The increasing anthropogenic effects would significantly enhance the sources, transformation, and biodegradation of terrestrial DOM and link to the greenhouse gas emission and the carbon cycle in inland waters.