Monitoring and evaluation Al-Razzaza lake changes in Iraq using GIS and remote sensing technology

Abstract

This study uses remote sensing techniques and Geographic Information Systems GIS to monitor and evaluate the changes in the shoreline and the surface water area of Al-Razzazah Lake in Iraq from the year 1989 until 2020. Based on six satellite Landsat images of the study area for the years 1989, 1999, 2002, 2015, 2019, and 2020, changes were evaluated and mapped. Two methods; Support Vector Machine SVM and ISO cluster classifiers have been used to classify and extract the surface water area. The results showed the great change and the heavy loss that this lake was exposed until the year 2019. The surface water area decreased by 84.1% from 1631.72 km2 in 1989 to 259.65 km2 in 2019. Also, the shoreline was decreased by 63.4% from 451.98 km in 1989 to 165.46 km in 2019. Most changes happened in the north part and east part of the lake. Otherwise, an increase in the surface area of the lake was observed in the year 2020. This indicates the lake's recovery again, which forces the responsible authorities to take the necessary management to maintain the lake's continuity and prevent drought. The retraction ratio of the shoreline and surface water area of Al-Razzazah Lake was in ascending values from the year 1989 up to 2019 at an extreme rate. This retraction negatively affects Iraq; socially, economically, and environmentally alike. It determines the quantity available to the lake and its default age.

Keywords

• ISO cluster unsupervised classification
• Surface water area
• Remote sensing
• Geographic Information Systems
• Shoreline
• Retraction ratio