Abstract
Objective: Surface waters, primary source of water for growing population in the World, are highly affected by global climate change. Therefore, detecting and monitoring changes in surface waters has become one of the most important indicators in sustainable water resources management. In this study, the changes in water surfaces of Bafa and Azap Lakes were determined by using remote sensing and geographical information systems.
Material and Methods: In the study, Landsat images taken in 1987, 1999, 2007 and 2015, Rapideye satellite images taken in 2014, orthophoto images taken in 2010 and topographic maps produced in 1996 and 2012 were used. Manual digitization, supervised and unsupervised classification and NDWI analysis were used for spatial determination of water surfaces.
Results: It has been determined that periodic floods caused significant changes especially in the Azap lake area, and it shrinked rapidly in dry periods. It was found that high spatial resolution increased the success rate of digitization and classification. It has been evaluated that unsupervised classification yields successful results in areas with different depths of water surface, while errors may increase in supervised classification. It has been demonstrated that the vector data generated using the area of interest and the NDWI method can be used to detect water surfaces.
Conclusion: It has been determined that the water surfaces of Lake Azap contracted approximately 90% between 1987 and 2007, expanded approximately 9 times in 2014, and contracted again in the last year. In Lake Bafa, it has been revealed that the increases and decreases in water surfaces in different years follow each other.