Temporal dynamic drought interpretation of Sawa Lake: case study located at the Southern Iraqi region

Sawa Lake is a historical, cultural, and environmental landmark of great importance in education and tourism. Its unique advantages make it a potential global natural heritage and geopark in 2021. The current research is devoted to investigate and assess the actual reasons behind the rapid decline of the water level of Sawa Lake, which has begun to drop dramatically in an unprecedented situation. Landsat data are employed for interpreting the temporal and spatial changes of both water and vegetation covers. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data are used for water volume estimation. Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index was used in comparing the rainfall rate to the changing of land use-land cover. Additionally, the Modified Normalized Difference Water Index and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index are established on the Landsat OLI imageries using ENVI 5.3 software. The data analysis showed that one of the most important reasons for the Sawa Lake water level drop is the massive pumping of the groundwater from a site located to the south of the lake to feed the Mamlahat Al-Samawa from which NaCl is extracted.