Assessing Ecological Quality Dynamics and Driving Factors in the Irtysh River Basin Using AWBEI and OPGD Approaches

Luo K. Samat A. Van De Voorde T. Li W. Xu W. Abuduwaili J.
2025 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
2025 #18 1153 - 1173 pp.

Climate change and human activities increasingly impact watershed ecological quality (EQ), particularly in large transboundary watersheds. This study introduces an amended water benefit-based ecological index (AWBEI) to assess changes in EQ within the Irtysh River Basin from 2000 to 2023. AWBEI integrates indicators such as surface water abundance, latent heat, land surface temperature, vegetation, and soil indices. We used Google Earth Engine to efficiently process these data. The spatiotemporal analysis showed significant spatial variation in EQ across the basin. Areas north of 55 °N consistently had better EQ. Overall, the basin exhibited a slight improvement trend, although with notable variations. The study identified persistent significant degradation in 5.43% of the area, primarily in central and western regions. Driving factor analysis using the optimal parameters-based geodetector model identified temperature (q-values 0.583-0.695) and precipitation (q-values 0.561-0.665) as primary natural influences, with GDP (q-values 0.431-0.480) as the main socio-economic factor. Strong interactions between these drivers were observed, emphasizing the need for integrated ecological management approaches that consider both direct effects and synergistic interactions among environmental and socioeconomic factors.

Amended water benefit-based ecological index (AWBEI) , ecological quality (EQ) , Irtysh river basin (IRB) , optimal parameters-based geodetector (OPGD) , space-time dynamics

Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи

Xinjiang University, College of Geography and Remote Sensing Science, Ürümqi, 830017, China
Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Ürümqi, 830011, China
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, China-Kazakhstan Joint Laboratory for Remote Sensing Technology and Application, Almaty, 050012, Kazakhstan
Ghent University, Department of Geography, Ghent, 9000, Belgium

Xinjiang University
Chinese Academy of Sciences
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Ghent University

10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель

Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026