Modelling lake water's surface changes using environmental and remote sensing data: A case study of Lake Urmia

چکیده مقاله

A synthesis approach known as modeling lake water changes model (LWC-model) was proposed in this research for assessing, conserving, and managing the water stability of lakes. The proposed LWC model was divided into two parts: assessment of satellite-derived water feature and spatiotemporal modelling. The LWC model was empirically evaluated using multi-temporal Landsat data, environmental criteria, and Urmia lake restoration programs (ULRP) criteria, and the results were compared to its stable situation (i.e., 2002). Initially, several water indices were studied for extracting surface water. Following that, one of these indices that outperformed the others when compared to the reference map was employed in the suggested method. Second, three economic strategies were used to examine the environmental and government ULRP requirements. The first part's findings revealed a significant reduction in lake water surface of about 58.22% between 2002 and 2014, followed by a 37% rise between 2014 and 2018. These gradual variations in water level may be ascribed to two primary criteria: the ULRP requirements for Lake Urmia resurrection and environmental variables. This stability would be somewhat fragile if ULRP recovery operations on the lake were not undertaken due to the generally steady climatic conditions. Furthermore, the findings of the three strategies revealed that the lowest, average, and maximum time necessary for Lake Urmia to return to a stable state, were 10, 20, and 39 years, respectively. The LWC model used a versatile method that could be applied to any body of water given the new criteria and parameters. To summarize, the approach we presented can be suggested for modeling and mapping inland water, specifically lake water fluctuations in other favorable areas with comparable meteorological and environmental circumstances.