{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,28]],"date-time":"2025-11-28T17:25:58Z","timestamp":1764350758293,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"20","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,21]],"date-time":"2022-10-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1666310400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"University of Saskatchewan"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Water availability in lakes must be studied in order to better manage ecosystems within lake basins and meet economic development needs. Despite being Iran\u2019s largest lake, Lake Urmia\u2019s water level and surface area have declined dramatically over the past two decades. During the same period, Lake Van in Turkey maintained a relatively stable water level and surface area. As a result, comparing factors related to water level and surface area in these lakes, which have similar geographical and climate conditions but different management policies, can be an appropriate way to identify the causes of water declines in Lake Urmia. Comparing these variables may help explain observed differences in lake behavior between 2000 and 2016. Hydrometric and climatic parameters, as well as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), were used to achieve this goal. Changes in precipitation, temperature, and evapotranspiration in both lakes show essentially identical trends, but this is not a convincing explanation for Lake Urmia\u2019s water surface changes. The results revealed that dam construction and water diversion projects, the expansion of irrigated agriculture, and the lake\u2019s shallow depth in most parts were the primary causes of Lake Urmia\u2019s shrinkage compared to Lake Van.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs14205269","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,24]],"date-time":"2022-10-24T10:09:23Z","timestamp":1666606163000},"page":"5269","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Unsustainable Anthropogenic Activities: A Paired Watershed Approach of Lake Urmia (Iran) and Lake Van (Turkey)"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Sajad","family":"Khoshnood","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Watershed Management Sciences and Engineering, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan 7571846813, Iran"}]},{"given":"Aynaz","family":"Lotfata","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Geography Department, Chicago State University, Chicago, IL 60628, USA"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8983-8613","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ayyoob","family":"Sharifi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences and Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8530, Japan"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"671","DOI":"10.1177\/0309133310375653","article-title":"The response and role of ice cover in lake-climate interactions","volume":"34","author":"Brown","year":"2010","journal-title":"Prog. Phys. Geogr."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"R43","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2017.01.008","article-title":"The world\u2019s vanishing lakes","volume":"27","author":"Gross","year":"2017","journal-title":"Curr. Biol."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"594","article-title":"Management of the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem: Water, Economic Values and Competing Interests","volume":"26","author":"Wurtsbaugh","year":"2014","journal-title":"Watershed Sci. Fac. Publ."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"034021","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/6\/3\/034021","article-title":"On the causes of the shrinking of Lake Chad","volume":"6","author":"Gao","year":"2011","journal-title":"Environ. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"816","DOI":"10.1038\/ngeo3052","article-title":"Decline of the world\u2019s saline lakes","volume":"10","author":"Wurtsbaugh","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nat. Geosci."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"18","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecoleng.2018.12.031","article-title":"Exploring responses of lake area to river regulation and implications for lake restoration in arid regions","volume":"128","author":"Zhang","year":"2019","journal-title":"Ecol. Eng."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"203","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhydrol.2018.12.004","article-title":"Climatic or regionally induced by humans? Tracing hydro-climatic and land-use changes to better understand the Lake Urmia tragedy","volume":"569","author":"Khazaei","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Hydrol."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wilcox, D.A., Thompson, T.A., Booth, R.K., and Nicholas, J.R. (2007). Lake-level variability and water availability in the Great Lakes. U.S. Geol. Surv. Circ., 1\u201329.","DOI":"10.3133\/cir1311"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2427","DOI":"10.1016\/j.proenv.2012.01.231","article-title":"A method to assess the alteration of water-level-fluctuation patterns in lakes","volume":"13","author":"Yin","year":"2012","journal-title":"Procedia Environ. Sci."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4469","DOI":"10.1007\/s11269-013-0420-2","article-title":"Prediction of Urmia Lake Water-Level Fluctuations by Using Analytical, Linear Statistic and Intelligent Methods","volume":"27","author":"Kakahaji","year":"2013","journal-title":"Water Resour. Manag."},{"key":"ref_11","first-page":"1","article-title":"Short term fluctuations of Lake Erie water levels and the El Ni\u00f1o\/Southern Oscillation","volume":"7","author":"Lakhan","year":"2000","journal-title":"Great Lakes Geogr."},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"Ouarda, T.B.M.J., Ehsanzadeh, E., Saley, H.M., Khaliq, N., Seidou, O., Charron, C., Pietroniro, A., and Lee, D. (2020, May 27). Analysis of Changes in the Great Lakes Net Basin Supply (NBS) Components and Explanatory Variables. Available online: https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/26609186\/Analysis_of_Changes_in_the_Great_Lakes_Net_Basin_Supply_NBS_Components_and_Explanatory_Variables?from_sitemaps=true&version=2."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"367","DOI":"10.1021\/es070664+","article-title":"Recent water level declines in the Lake Michigan-Huron system","volume":"42","author":"Sellinger","year":"2008","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"88","DOI":"10.1016\/j.quaint.2012.06.016","article-title":"Climatic and environmental evolution of Lake Iznik (NW Turkey) over the last \u223c4700 years","volume":"274","author":"Franz","year":"2012","journal-title":"Quat. Int."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"644","DOI":"10.1007\/s12517-016-2657-6","article-title":"Comparative analysis of Lake Urmia and Lake Van water level time series","volume":"9","author":"Jalili","year":"2016","journal-title":"Arab. J. Geosci."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"942","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jglr.2016.07.033","article-title":"Impacts of climate change and water resources development on the declining inflow into Iran\u2019s Urmia Lake","volume":"42","author":"Shadkam","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Great Lakes Res."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"307","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jglr.2014.12.007","article-title":"Aral Sea syndrome desiccates Lake Urmia: Call for action","volume":"41","author":"AghaKouchak","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Great Lakes Res."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107509","DOI":"10.1016\/j.agwat.2022.107509","article-title":"Investigating the changes in agricultural land use and actual evapotranspiration of the Urmia Lake basin based on FAO\u2019s WaPOR database","volume":"264","author":"Barideh","year":"2022","journal-title":"Agric. Water Manag."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"253","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhydrol.2009.09.029","article-title":"Comparison of two different data-driven techniques in modeling lake level fluctuations in Turkey","volume":"378","author":"Kisi","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Hydrol."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"(2020, May 27). EU-WATCH. Available online: http:\/\/www.eu-watch.org."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"823","DOI":"10.1175\/2011JHM1369.1","article-title":"Creation of the WATCH forcing data and its use to assess global and regional reference crop evaporation over land during the twentieth century","volume":"12","author":"Weedon","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Hydrometeorol."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"900","DOI":"10.1175\/2011JHM1356.1","article-title":"Streamflow data from small basins: A challenging test to high-resolution regional climate modeling","volume":"12","author":"Stahl","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Hydrometeorol."},{"key":"ref_23","first-page":"8112","article-title":"Correction to \u201cA generalized single-channel method for retrieving land surface temperature from remote sensing data\u201d by Juan C. Jim\u00e9nez-Mu\u00f1oz and Jos\u00e9 A. Sobrino","volume":"109","year":"2004","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"467","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2003.11.005","article-title":"Estimation of land surface temperature-vegetation abundance relationship for urban heat island studies","volume":"89","author":"Weng","year":"2004","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"(2020, May 27). Theia. Available online: http:\/\/hydroweb.theia-land.fr\/."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Zambrano-Bigiarini, M. (2020, May 27). Goodness-of-Fit Functions for Comparison of Simulated and Observed Hydrological Time Series. Available online: https:\/\/github.com\/hzambran\/hydroGOF."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"687","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jenvman.2018.10.044","article-title":"Large lake gauging using fractional imagery","volume":"231","author":"Park","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Environ. Manage."},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"(2020, May 27). USGS, Available online: https:\/\/earthexplorer.usgs.gov\/."},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"(2020, May 27). NASA Earth Data Search, Available online: https:\/\/search.earthdata.nasa.gov\/search."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhang, Z., and Teng, H. (2011, January 15\u201319). An inversion method of remote sensing water depth based on transmission bands ratio. Proceedings of the 2011 Fourth International Joint Conference on Computational Sciences and Optimization, Kunming\/Lijiang, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/CSO.2011.80"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Le, Y., Hu, M., Chen, Y., Yan, Q., Zhang, D., Li, S., Zhang, X., and Wang, L. (2022). Investigating the Shallow-Water Bathymetric Capability of Zhuhai-1 Spaceborne Hyperspectral Images Based on ICESat-2 Data and Empirical Approaches: A Case Study in the South China Sea. Remote Sens., 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs14143406"},{"key":"ref_32","first-page":"e01004","article-title":"Water depth retrieval models of East Dongting Lake, China, using GF-1 multi-spectral remote sensing images","volume":"22","author":"Nan","year":"2020","journal-title":"Glob. Ecol. Conserv."},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"(2016, September 03). Urmia Lake Restoration Program. Available online: http:\/\/ulrp.sharif.ir\/en."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"443","DOI":"10.1007\/s00704-014-1120-4","article-title":"Identification of trends in hydrological and climatic variables in Urmia Lake basin, Iran","volume":"119","author":"Fathian","year":"2015","journal-title":"Theor. Appl. Climatol."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"129","DOI":"10.1007\/s11269-011-9909-8","article-title":"Determining the Main Factors in Declining the Urmia Lake Level by Using System Dynamics Modeling","volume":"26","author":"Hassanzadeh","year":"2012","journal-title":"Water Resour. Manag."},{"key":"ref_36","first-page":"1759","article-title":"Climate variability and anthropogenic effects on Lake Urmia water level fluctuations, northwestern Iran","volume":"61","author":"Jalili","year":"2016","journal-title":"Hydrol. Sci. J."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"342","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhydrol.2018.03.034","article-title":"Climate and anthropogenic contributions to the desiccation of the second largest saline lake in the twentieth century","volume":"560","author":"Chaudhari","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Hydrol."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/s10661-016-5456-3","article-title":"Investigating the causality of changes in the landscape pattern of Lake Urmia basin, Iran using remote sensing and time series analysis","volume":"188","author":"Mehrian","year":"2016","journal-title":"Environ. Monit. Assess."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/s10113-020-01650-5","article-title":"Dynamics and drivers of land use and land cover changes in Bangladesh","volume":"20","author":"Xu","year":"2020","journal-title":"Reg. Environ. Chang."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-018-06013-7","article-title":"Drought reduces blue-water fluxes more strongly than green-water fluxes in Europe","volume":"9","author":"Orth","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nat. Commun."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1029\/2007JD008525","article-title":"Simulation of reservoir influences on annual and seasonal streamflow changes for the Lena, Yenisei, and Ob\u2019 rivers","volume":"112","author":"Adam","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"18","DOI":"10.1504\/IJHST.2014.064398","article-title":"Analysis of water level changes in Lake Urmia based on data characteristics and non-parametric test","volume":"4","author":"Fathian","year":"2014","journal-title":"Int. J. Hydrol. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_43","first-page":"102607","article-title":"Assessing the effects of irrigated agricultural expansions on Lake Urmia using multi-decadal Landsat imagery and a sample migration technique within Google Earth Engine","volume":"105","author":"Naboureh","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/14\/20\/5269\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T00:59:07Z","timestamp":1760144347000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/14\/20\/5269"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,21]]},"references-count":43,"journal-issue":{"issue":"20","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10]]}},"alternative-id":["rs14205269"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs14205269","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2072-4292"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,21]]}}}