Changes in Mesopotamian Wetlands: Investigations Using Diverse Remote Sensing Datasets

Abstract

Early civilizations have inhabited stable-water-resourced areas that supported living needs and activities, including agriculture. The Mesopotamian marshes, recognised as the most ancient human-inhabited area (~6000 years ago) and refuge of rich biodiversity, have experienced dramatic changes during the past five decades, starting to fail in providing adequate environmental functioning and support of social communities as they used to for thousands of years. The aim of this study is to observe, analyse and report the extent of changes in these marshes from 1972 to 2020. Data from various remote sensing sources were acquired through Google Earth Engine (GEE) including climate variables, land cover, surface reflectance, and surface water occurrence collections. Results show a clear wetlands dynamism over time and a significant loss in marshlands extent, even though no significant long-term change was observed in lumped rainfall from 1982, and even during periods where no meteorological drought had been recorded. Human interventions have disturbed the ecosystems, which is evident when studying water occurrence changes. These show that the diversion of rivers and the building of a new drainage system caused the migration and spatiotemporal changes of marshlands. Nonetheless, restoration plans (after 2003) and strong wet conditions (period 2018 - 2020) have helped to recover the ecosystems, these have not led the marshlands to regain their former extent. Further studies should pay more attention to the drainage network within the study area as well as the neighboring regions and their impact on the streamflow that feeds the study area.

Analysis of the environmental reality of the marshes and its sustainable development

“…Humidity is low while evaporation from water surfaces is high, which causes water loss because evaporation is ten times more than the contribution of precipitation in the region. It is noted that the highest temperatures were in July, followed by August, while June, in general, was the lowest of the three months in temperature [10].…”

“…The marshes are one of the eleven non-marine water areas in the international classification as an endemic bird area, as they provide the world sector for these creatures with two types of creatures, the Basrah Reed Warbler and the Iraqi Babbler. On this basis alone, the marshes are of global importance to birds in terms of biodiversity [10].…”

“…Its length in Syria is about 675 km, and in Iraq, it is 1,200 km. The rain and snow falling on the upper edges of the river basin are the main sources of its water [10] 1.12.2 Tigris River:…”