Analysis of Hydrological Drought in the Turkish Lakes Region With Satellite Remote Sensing

Abstract

Nowadays, with the development of remote sensing technologies, it has become easy to detect and analyse changes in the earth. Satellites orbiting around the Earth in certain orbits provide users images with high temporal, spatial and spectral resolution, supporting studies to determine the characteristics, locations, changes over time and deformations of objects in the land. Drought is a disaster that develops in a long time but its effects are very large. The changes caused by this disaster on the earth can be recorded by the mentioned satellite systems. In this study, the water level changes of Lake Burdur, Lake Salda, Lake Akgöl and Lake Yarışlı in the Turkish Lakes Region were analysed over the years due to drought. In the analysis, the images provided by the Sentinel-2 satellite, three images from the dry and wet seasons in each year between 2015 and 2022, were used. Water withdrawal in the lakes due to drought was determined with the help of four different radiometric water indices: NDWI, MNDWI, MNDWI+5 and AWEI. As a result of the analyses, it was concluded that there was a significant loss of water mass over time in the lakes examined, and that these losses were a direct result of drought; and it was seen that the Sentinel-2 satellite images and NDWI, MNDWI, MNDWI +5, AWEI indices used were suitable and practical for change analyses.