Monitoring the Changes of Zaribar Lake in Kurdistan Using Spectral Indicators and Landsat Images in Google Earth Engine System

Lakes are one of the valuable national resources of any country and the study of changes in the level and volume of water in lakes in order to protect them and to better decide and manage water resources, is always of particular importance. The study of water area changes in recent years has found a special place among countries. In this study, the changes in the area of Zarivar Lake located in Kurdistan province in the long-term period of 36 years, 1984-1920, have been studied. It is noteworthy that in this study, Google Earth Engine system or GEE for short, which is a new and very useful system in recent years, was used. This system makes a lot of information available with coding in the shortest time. In the present study, using Landsat 5 and 8 satellite images and GEE system and NDWI and MNDWI spectral algorithms in the shortest time and cost, water zone separation from other phenomena was done using thresholding and long-term changes in its area. Checked out. These changes are important for water resources management as well as crisis management in the region, given the importance of Lake Zaribar. Validation of the results and comparison between the indicators for Zaribar Lake showed that the MNDWI index with a kappa coefficient of 0.94 and an overall accuracy of 97% for the recent period is a very suitable index for this region and its results are much better than the NDWI index. Fluctuations in the surface of Lake Zaribar have been high over a long period of 36 years. For example, the average level of the lake in the period 1995-1984 with the index MNDW I960 / 852 hectares and in the period 2020-2015 with the same index, is 989.371 hectares.