Transformation of aquatic vegetation in Chinese lakes from 1988 to 2023

This is an areal dataset of different aquatic vegetation type in Chinese lakes using 0.23 million Landsat images from 1988 to 2023. Validation based on field measurements indicates that the overall accuracy (OA) were 82.4% for submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) and 93.8% for floating and emergent aquatic vegetation (FEAV), respectively. Additionally, other accuracy assessment methods, including calculating a confusion matrix, comparing the classification results with documented records and high resolution images, also demonstrate the reliability of the aquatic vegetation (AV) classification algorithm used in this study. Results show that from 1988–1993 to 2018–2023, the total lake AV area experienced a reduction of 0.7 × 10³ km². The findings could provide important insights for lake restoration management in China.