Monitoring Changes in Water Bodies of Ramsar Convention Wetlands over the Period (1984-2021) Based on Remote Sensing Data

The exponential growth of remote sensing-based information in the last decade has provided unprecedented opportunities for monitoring Earth's resources, including wetlands, which are among the most valuable ecosystems in existence. Knowing the changes in wetlands plays a crucial role in the quality of management in such areas. This study monitored the surface water levels in Iran and the changes in Iranian wetlands recorded under the Ramsar Convention over 37 years (1984-2021) using global surface water (GSW) remote sensing product images produced by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. The product data were integrated with the boundaries of the wetlands in a GIS environment, and the areas of existing water, lost water, and added water levels over 37 years were estimated for each province and wetland. The results showed that in Iran, there are 6285.86 km² of permanent water, 1860.29 km² of added permanent water, 3601.68 km² of lost permanent water, 3957.54 km² of seasonal water, 11,614.55 km² of new seasonal water, and 16,222.89 km² of lost seasonal water. The wetlands registered under the Ramsar Convention have a total of 430198 hectares of permanent water, 15077 hectares of new permanent water, 325955 hectares of lost permanent water, 167270 hectares of seasonal water, 486853 hectares of new seasonal water, and 628942 hectares of lost seasonal water.