Zero Flow Park HQ calculated on November 18, 2024



Ruaha River Flow Monitor Tool (Remote Sensing) Flow Status Today: 7 Days of Zero Flow at Park HQ in 2024

Zero Flow Anounced on November 18, 2024

Using the Google Earth Engine developed threshold level for the water area at the VDAS 2km upstream of the Msembe Bridge, the start of the zero flow period is estimated between November 13 and November 18, 2024 as the Water Area within the Area of Interest (see box on image below) dropped under the critical value of 0.002 sqkm. The Msembe Bridge (ParkHQ) is in the upper left and the AoI in the upper left for which the critical ‘water area’ is defined. The graph below shows the water areas in the previous years with 2020 as reference year without occurrence of zero flow. Click on Image to enlarge.

Weeks to Zero Flow at Park HQ October 14, 2024

Comparison of 3m pixels planet.com image with the October 14, 2024 image suggests some one to two weeks from zero flow as is illustrated in image gallery below.

Compare flow channel reduction NDWI based visualization

The combination of images providing improved visualization of the flow reduction is illustrated in the sentinel2 image gallery below.

The NDWI image mask (water and no-water) with 20m resolution is combined with the 10m false color (Band 4, 3, 2) composite and with the resampled 5m false color composite on July 11, 2024. The reduction of the flow channels on July 11 as compared to June 6, 2024 below, is clearly visible and will be helpful to more accurately determine zero-flow. (Click to enlarge images)

Without the NDWI mask the comparison of the flow status at Msembe (Park HQ) of the false color images of June 6 (left) and July 11, 2024 (right) is captured in the gallery below. (Click image to enlarge)

Improved visualization Flow Channels Msembe

The Ruaha River seems swollen at the Msembe bridge to the Ruaha Park HQ (where the white line crosses the river) . Combination of the 20m resolution NDWI image of sentinel2 with the false color image (10m) below on June 6, shows that the actual water channels are holding less water while the water channels are difficult to distinct from wet sediment and wet rock with shallow ponds and vegetation. (click to enlarge image)

Status flow at Ruaha Park HQ on June 6, 2024. False color 10m pixel resolution at Msembe Bridge. (click to enlarge)