Spatiotemporal assessment of suspended sediment concentration and salinity in Lake Urmia using satellite imagery and remote sensing

Abstract

Lake Urmia is considered as the largest salt water lake in Iran. Due to climate change and human activities in the lake's basin, the salinity of the lake has risen to more than 300 g/L during recent years, and large areas of the lake bed have been desiccated. Consequently, awareness of the hydro-ecological factors during the last few decades is crucial for identifying the problems. In the present study, the impacts of changes in suspended sediment concentration and saline features are explored using satellite imagery and remote sensing. The main purpose of this study is to conduct supervised monitoring in order to evaluate the Urmia Lake crisis with regard to human-involved factors such as the construction of the causeway. The results highlight an alarming increase of saline features around the lake during the studied period, from 287.718 km² in 2000 to 3006.5 km² in 2015. Also, it is concluded that the SSC has increased in the lake during recent years. The results of this study confirm that anthropogenic factors can be considered as the main cause of the crisis.