Pakistan Journal of Geology (PJG)

Journal: Pakistan Journal of Geology (PJG)
Author: Ayesha Sikandar, Iqra Nasir

This is an open access journal distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

DOI: 10.26480/pjg.02.2022.47.52

Satellite remote sensing and geographic information system are those technologies that have been proved highly productive in the monitoring of anthropogenic activities and in the development of databases that allows monitoring of wetlands and other protected areas in a systematic way. The Remote Sensing techniques also provides solution to the accessibility problems. The province of Sindh is comprised of many wetlands of which Manchar and Keenjhar Lakes has been studied. Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS satellite images were acquired for the year 2013 and 2021 respectively and different spectral indices like NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and NDWI (Normalized Difference Water Index) were investigated. NDWI and NDVI is showing a positive correlation as the values of Pearson correlation “r” is almost near to 1. The NDVI value for both lakes in 2013 was high which is showing dense vegetation covers but on the other hand the NDVI values declines showing sparse vegetation in 2021 which is alarming. The NDWI values for both the lakes were below the threshold level. The main purpose of carrying out this study is to calculate and detect Vegetation covers and level of water stress in the lakes which was not found to be satisfactory as a lot of regions of Sindh in 2021 were facing drought conditions because of less precipitation and shortage of water in rivers. The study proved to be effective in demonstrating the use of satellite remote sensing techniques for wetland monitoring.