Abstract
The objective of this study is to monitor and analyze the meandering, and changes in land use / land cover (LULC) caused by the large reduction of water flow of the lower Jordan River (LJR), resulting from climatic conditions, and conflict over water resources between Syria, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the upper part of the Jordan River Basin (JRB). These circumstances have led to dramatic decline in the Dead Sea level by a vertical distance of -39 m during the monitoring period. This has resulted in the scarcity of water resources, changes affecting the geomorphology of the river as well as the vegetated area and the spatial distribution of riparian vegetation in the (LJR). These changes were examined using Landsat TM, ETM, all images acquired in August 1984, 2000, and 2016, and a topographic map (TM) was used as a base map. The multi-temporal images were geometrically and radio metrically calibrated to each other and used as input for an automatic change detection procedure. The results of the interpretation showed that there was an elongation in the active channel length of about 741.8 m within the monitoring period as a result of the Dead Sea retreat, and about 2.65 km caused by meandering. The direction of the migration rates varied towards west and east, with the dominant direction towards the west and the annual average migration rate for west and east was 0.325 m, with a total lateral migration during the study period about only 17.875m in both directions west and east. River meandering has increased from 1.8 m to 2.1 m in the time period. With respect to (LULC), the difference image indicated that significant positive changes in green vegetation have occurred between 1984 and 2016; this is due to the expansion of water storage by canals, and dams in all riparian counters, with an increase in water ponds. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) showed that the riparian vegetation area increased by 36.9% during the monitoring period, indicating the stability of the valley floor. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.erem.74.2.20917
Highlights
IntroductionThis seems to be dictated by the water conflict in the area, as water is a political issue within the riparian basin of the Jordan River (Beaumont, 1997; Barinava, et al, 2010; UN-ESCWA and BGR, 2013; Comair et al, 2012)
River meandering dynamics is an important indicator of environmental change related to climate changes and the scarcity of water resources in the lower Jordan River Basin
The lower Jordan River (LJR) changes that were recorded over the monitoring period caused by the low reduction of water flow, rare flood events and the ultimate base level decline by −39 m resulted in decreasing the active channel by 42% during the monitoring period
Summary
This seems to be dictated by the water conflict in the area, as water is a political issue within the riparian basin of the Jordan River (Beaumont, 1997; Barinava, et al, 2010; UN-ESCWA and BGR, 2013; Comair et al, 2012). Analysis of the river variables includes the channel length, meandering, centreline migration, as based on the topographic maps, TM images and DEM-derived from (SRTM) data. RMS error for the four TM plates covering the study area s of the river variables includes the channel length, meandering, centreline migration, as based on the maps, TM images and DEM-deriSvheedetf(r1o)mAl-(KSaRraTmMah) data. Satellite images TM and ETM: three images were acquired in April 1984, 2000 and 2016 (Table 2), available aMt etrhceatworeb(JsTitMe h) tCtpo:o//rgdlionvaitseE.unSsvygirsostn.egmmoevnu.tasTliRnhegesse1ea:rc2ihm5, ,Ea0ng0ge0inseteworpienorgegarngadpeMohriacenfamegreaempnescn.et d and rectified to the Jo2r0d1a8/n74T/r2ansverse
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