Dataset and code for "Quantifying River Persistence and Identifying Flow Cessation in Semi-arid Rivers Using Wetted River Length and Water Presence Duration"

This repository contains the dataset and code supporting the manuscript: "Quantifying River Persistence and Identifying Flow Cessation in Semi-arid Rivers Using Wetted River Length and Water Presence Duration". Repository Contents: Result_Rasters.zip: Contains the derived spatial datasets, including monthly surface-water extent masks, Water Presence Duration (WPD) continuous frequency rasters, and reclassified river connectivity status for the Xiliao and Tao'er Rivers during the 2021 non-frozen season (GeoTIFF format). Validation_Samples.zip: Contains the reference sample points (Shapefile format) used to train and validate the seasonally stratified random forest models. Source_Code.zip: Contains the complete Google Earth Engine (GEE) JavaScript codes for multidimensional feature construction, model training, and 10-day composite surface-water extraction. README.txt: Detailed data dictionary and instructions for reproducibility. Abstract of the associated manuscript: River flow cessation is an increasingly important hydroecological issue amid climate change and intensive human activities, particularly in semi-arid regions, where it threatens water security and ecosystem stability. Yet basin-scale characterization of flow cessation remains challenging because river persistence varies longitudinally and seasonally. Here, we developed a multidimensional feature-based, seasonally stratified remote-sensing framework to quantify river persistence and identify flow-cessation patterns in semi-arid river corridors. We further introduced two hydrologically interpretable indicators: wetted river length (WRL) for longitudinal connectivity and water presence duration (WPD) for temporal persistence. We applied the framework to the Xiliao and Tao'er Rivers in the semi-arid Songliao Basin, northeastern China, during the 2021 non-frozen season. Surface-water mapping achieved overall accuracies of 0.91 and 0.93, respectively. The Xiliao River showed severe seasonal contraction and frequent drying, with a non-frozen period WRL of 381.56 km; 35.19% of its main channel (153.03 km) had WPD < 25%, forming a pronounced connectivity barrier in the middle reaches. In contrast, the Tao'er River maintained stronger persistence, with a WRL of 560.59 km and only 4.61% of its main channel (25.84 km) showing WPD < 25%. These contrasting patterns suggest that semi-arid river flow cessation may occur as clustered disconnected reaches that fragment longitudinal connectivity, particularly where intensive irrigation and groundwater depletion promote channel water loss. Despite uncertainties in very narrow channels and spectrally confused wetted surfaces, the framework provides a transferable basis for quantifying river persistence and identifying cessation hotspots.