The study of Maharlu Lake area and its marginal land use changes using Landsat images

Monitoring the area and their marginal land uses changes in lakes are one of the strategies to achieve proper management of lakes and wetlands. In the present study to monitor Maharlu Lake area and its marginal land uses changes in Fars Province, the Landsat images of 1987, 2001 and 2013 were selected in wet and dry periods (March and September). By applying geometric and atmospheric corrections, the maximum probability algorithm was used for providing land use map. The Kappa coefficients for the September of 1987, 2001 and 2013 were 0.85, 0.88 and 0.89, and for April of 1987 and 2013 were 0.86 and 0.88, respectively. After providing land use map and validation, the method of comparing satellite images was used to monitor the changes. The changes were monitored by comparing Landsat images after classification. Results showed that the Maharlu Lake area has decreased by 82% in September 2013 compared to 1987. This reduction was 20% in March, 2013 compared to 1979. By reducing the water level of lake in September, bare soil and saline lands were increased by 39 and 37.5%, respectively. Agricultural and range lands have been decreased by 28 and 3.5% from 1987 to 2013, respectively. In general, the area under cultivation around the Maharlu Lake and the water level has been decreased significantly due to the lack of significant changes in rainfall during the long-term period and significant increase in evapotranspiration of Maharlu area during the last three decades. Due to recent droughts, bare soils and saline lands have been increased during this period. This has different consequences which require the proper management and planning of lakes and wetlands, especially during the drought periods.