The Use of Landsat Thematic Mapper in the Study of Landuse/Cover and Water Quality Relationships

In Jordan, the fourth driest country in the world, demand for water exceeds available water resources. The annual per capita water availability is 145 Cubic Meter (CM) per year, which is below the international poverty line of 500 CM/year. The increasing water deficit year-on-year poses serious future threat that will impact many sectors. Water quantity and quality are essential issues in Jordan and more efforts are needed to find new water resources, and to protect and improve the available resources. This research seeks to study the relationship between Landuse/cover change and water quality in reservoirs in Jordan. Landuse changes were detected by using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images obtained for King Talal reservoir in 1990 and 2006 and for Karameh reservoir in 1998 and 2006. Geometric correction and supervised classification were utilized in ERDAS software. Turbidity levels within the two reservoirs were estimated by the chromaticity technique and were compared to measured data from previous reports for both reservoirs. Remote sensing was successful in detecting the changes in landuse in both areas. The estimated turbidity levels correlated moderately well with measured data from previous reports for the same reservoirs; it was difficult to directly relate a specific Landuse/cover for turbidity levels. Limitations were defined as data collection and quality problems, in addition to some theoretical issues about using Landsat for this study.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biological Systems Engineering

Department dc:contributor.department

Biological Systems Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Shihadeh, Lubna Ahmad

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Wolfe, Mary Leigh

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Campbell, James B. Jr.
• Hession, W. Cully

• Chromaticity
• Remote sensing
• Landuse/cover change
• Water quality

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-06162011-003005

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/43360