Investigation of periodic changes in the Coastline of Anzali international wetland using remote sensing

Monitoring wetlands and especially their coastlines due to recording their periodic changes gives us a better understanding of the management of these areas. Remote sensing data and satellite images are one of the reliable sources for studying and interpreting changes in wetlands. In this study, Landsat images (TM-OLI) 2007 and 2018 were examined in order to examine the changes. After performing the required processing and corrections, the NDWI index was used to separate the water and land border. Accordingly, the maximum coastline changes were in the east, west and center of the wetland with distances of 10885.82, 5781.22 and 3370.830 meters, respectively, compared to 2007. The results of the study of the wetland water area showed that the area of the wetland had a decreasing trend 2007 to 2018 (100.06 and 29.5 km2, respectively) and the most changes were related to the eastern and central parts. Overall the results showed fluctuations of coastlines and water area in the studied years have been affected by changes in the water level of the Caspian Sea. Also, this study showed the efficiency remote sensing performance and NDWI index in identifying critical area in Anzali Wetland and better knowledge of the dynamic conditions of the wetland.