MONITORING AND CALCULATING THE SURFACE AREA OF LAKES IN NORTHERN IRAQ USING SATELLITE IMAGES

Water level and distribution is very essential in almost all life aspects andplays a great role in determining the population distribution and also in theeconomical state of Iraq. Natural and artificial lakes represent a largepercentage of these water bodies in Iraq. In this research the changes inwater levels are observed by calculating the areas of five different lakes infive different regions of the country, in a period of 40 years (1972 - 2012).In this study, archived remotely sensed images were used to determinesurface areas around lakes and dams in Iraq for the chosen years (1972-2012). Level of the lakes corresponding to satellite determined surface areaswere retrieved from remotely sensed data .These data were collected to giveexplanations on lake level and surface area fluctuations. Determination oflake surface area is important for water balance study and to manage risksaround the lake, it is important to determine these areas at different waterlevels to know areas which are being flooded in addition to the total areainundated. Hydrological system of these lakes was appraised in the period1972-2012, by using geographic information system (GIS) and remotesensing which found that the total area of the lakes surface had dimmed andthe volume of the water reduced. The study further disclosed that the lakessurfaces levels had lowered through those forty years.