Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Mahsa Sheikhasadi ¹
• Mahdieh Hosseinjanizadeh ²
• Mehdi Honarmand ²
• Reza Hassanzadeh ²

¹ Student, Department of Ecology, Institute of Science and High Technology and Environmental Sciences, Graduate University

² Department of Ecology, Institute of Science and High Technology and Environmental Sciences, Graduate University of Advanced Technology, Kerman, Iran

Abstract

ABSTRACT
The focus of this research is to monitor the formation of the Lut desert lake by investigation of Landsat and Sentinel 2 satellite images in a period of 47 years from 1972 to 2019 using water and vegetation indices. These indices which were used for extraction of the border and lake area include the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI), Automatic Water Extraction Index in Urban Areas (AWEInsh), Automatic Water Extraction Index in Shaded Areas (AWEIsh) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The watershed of the lake and two main drainages were extracted from digital elevation model (DEM) data. The drainage which branches from the Shur River enters the lake and has had a significant impact on the formation of the lake. In general rainfall and flooding of the Shur River mainly caused the formation of the Lut Lake. The results obtained from the indices showed that NDWI and NDVI indices are more efficient for obtaining the lake area. The area extracted from the NDVI index by Sentinel 2 data was about 209 hectares in April 2019 and gradually decreased to 191 hectares in May in the Landsat image. Results revealed that Water indices are a useful tool for identifying water areas and the increasing and decreasing trend of lake levels, which can help planners and policymakers in the protection and management of natural resources.

Keywords

• OLI
• TM
• MSS and MSI sensors
• Water index
• Vegetation index

Main Subjects

• Remote sensing and Gis