Investigating the effective factors on water area changes in Shadegan wetland using remote sensing technique and factor analysis

Wetlands are living ecosystems whose water depletion for natural and unnatural reasons leads to the extinction and death of living organisms. After successive droughts, if flooding and rehydration occur, it is largely impossible for them to return to life. According to the Ramsar agreement, the area of Shadegan wetland is 537731 hectares and includes fresh water area, tidal zone, Khormousi, other areas and marginal lands. In this study, the area of freshwater area of the wetland based on the Landsat satellite image during flooding is about 164 thousand hectares and is equivalent to 28% of the total area of the wetland. This wetland is extremely important due to various functions such as flood control, air conditioning, soil erosion control, plant and animal habitat and livelihood provider. The preservation of complex wetland systems and the sustainable use of their myriad resources depend on their careful study and knowledge. The purpose of this study is to monitor the trend of changes in the freshwater area of the wetland using satellite images and identify the factors affecting changes in its area. Materials and methods Landsat TM, ETM + and OLI satellite data from 1998 to 2017 were used to monitor the water area of Shadegan Wetland. Various climatic, hydro-climatic and water management factors were extracted for the study period in the whole watershed leading to the wetland and in the wetland itself due to its large area and the trend of changes and their relationship with changes the wetland water area were investigated.