Surrounding Environment Change during the Past 60 Years by Means of Remote Sensing Geobased Analyses

Gradual drying of Urmia Lake has become a national and international challenge. In recent decades, unsustainable agricultural and industrial development together with uncontrolled exploitation of aquifers are major causes of Urmia Lake drying. In this study, the change detection and monitoring of Urmia Lake and its environment during a period of 60 years has been conducted by integrating geospatial information system, remote sensing and photogrammetry. To achieve this objective, aerial photogrammetric data of the region captured in 1955 and the oldest topographic map of Urmia Lake area, digital elevation model data (DEM) of the study area, collected information about water wells around the west part of the Lake, water quality data and multi temporal satellite imageries of Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM and Landsat 8 OLI were used. Study is performed within a period from 1955 to 2014. Twelve different images at different epochs were processed. The results show that the area of the environment surrounding Urmia Lake has been extensively changed in recent years. In other words, the Lake area of about 451,800 hectares in 1955 has been affected by various factors and decreased to 89,730 hectare in 2014. The research results also indicated that the largest change in Urmia Lake environment has occurred in its southern part. Moreover, regression of the extracted information applied to the coastal zone of the Lake showed that the lowering rate of the lake water level is directly related to the expansion of agricultural lands around the Lake and inversely dependent to the electrical conductivity (EC) of Lake water. These fluctuations can be important implications for environmental, economical and social problems. If the current trend of Urmia Lake and its environmental changes remains as it currently is, it can be predicted that Urmia Lake will be completely dried and its surrounding area will wholly convert to salty lands by 2033.