Index of extraction of water surfaces from Landsat 7 ETM+ images

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop an index of water surfaces (IWS) for separating the water surfaces from other types of land use, by using the images of Landsat 7 ETM+. The index was applied on four areas characterized by different types of land use from different regions in Algeria. The first is from the center of Algeria (Landsat ETM+ scene: 195−36 acquired March 24, 2001); the second is from the east of Algeria (Landsat ETM+ scene: 193−35 acquired March 24, 2000); the third is from the west of Algeria (Landsat ETM+ scene: 197−36 acquired February 16, 2000); and the fourth is from the south of Algeria (Landsat ETM + scene: 197−43 acquired February 16, 2000). The results showed that the application of the IWS on the different tested areas can distinguish clearly the surface water from the other land use (basin dams, wadis, Sebkha, and Chott). These findings indicated that this index can be used in the mapping of the water surfaces.