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Application of Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 images data for water quality mapping in Mosul Dam Lake, Northern Iraq

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Abstract

Mosul Dam Lake is the main reservoir in Iraq, supporting the water demand of Mosul, Baghdad, and other cities. The aim of this study is to derive simple and accurate algorithms for the retrieval of water quality parameters for Mosul Dam Lake from Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 reflectance data. The water quality measurements were performed in situ during March and July 2011. These measurements included temperature, turbidity, Secchi disk, chlorophyll-a, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, total inorganic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, total dissolved solids, and pH. In order to properly use the values of reflectance bands, images enhancement techniques have been used. The field measurements were compared with reflectance values of Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 bands using different band combination of empirical algorithms. Generally, the results of analysis showed significant correlation between these models and water quality parameters with R 2 > 0.7 and p < 0.05, and the ETM+ algorithms were more precise, R 2 > 0.9 and p < 0.02. The results of comparison between the predicted water quality parameters and those measured in situ displayed more reliability for the models used, R 2 > 0.9, and values of the root mean square error ranged from 0.9 to 0.001. ArcGIS 10 was used to simulate the distribution values of water quality parameters calculated from spectral values of TM5 and ETM+ bands. The results of spatial analysis demonstrate that it is possible to use the TM5 and ETM+ images to evaluate the water quality for Mosul Dam Lake.

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Abbreviations

ATCOR:

Atmospheric/topographic correction

Chl-a :

Cholorophyll-a

DOC:

Dissolved organic carbon

EC:

Electric conductivity

LUT:

Image Enhancement via Lookup Table

NDWI:

Normalized difference water index

NIR:

Near infrared

NO2 :

Nitrite

NO3 :

Nitrate

p :

Significance

pH:

Potential of hydrogen

PO4 :

Phosphate

R 2 :

Coefficient of determination

RMSE:

Root mean of squared error

SEE:

Standard error of the estimate

SLC:

Scan line corrector

SWIR:

Shortwave infrared

TDS:

Total dissolved solids

TIC:

Total inorganic carbon

TM5:

Thematic Mapper sensor

ETM+:

Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus

ρ :

Band reflectance

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service. Also, the authors want to sincerely thank Dr. Adil Al- Hamadani, Dr. Basheer Al-Ni'ma, and Hazim Al-Naemi for assisting in the completion of field work and Arsalan Othman for his great help with ArcGIS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hydrogeology Department, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg, Germany

    Mohammed F. O. Khattab & Broder J. Merkel

  2. Remote Sensing Center, Mosul University, Mosul, Iraq

    Mohammed F. O. Khattab

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  1. Mohammed F. O. Khattab
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  2. Broder J. Merkel
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Correspondence to Mohammed F. O. Khattab.

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Khattab, M.F.O., Merkel, B.J. Application of Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 images data for water quality mapping in Mosul Dam Lake, Northern Iraq. Arab J Geosci 7, 3557–3573 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-1026-y

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