Author(s)

Mohammed F. O. Khattab^1,2*, Rudy K. Abo¹, Sameh W. Al-Muqdadi¹, Broder J. Merkel¹

¹Faculty of Geoscience and Geo-Engineering and Mining, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg, Germany.
²Remote Sensing Center, Mosul University, Mosul, Iraq.

Not many bathymetric maps are available for many lakes and reservoirs in developing countries. Usually the bathymetric mapping requires investment in expensive equipment and fieldwork, both of which are not accessible in these countries. This work demonstrates the ability to develop bathymetric map of Mosul Lake by using a digital elevation model (DEM). The depths model of the lake was designed through the use of three main stages; a coastline extraction, dataset interpolation and a triangular irregular network model. The normalized difference water index (NDWI) was used for automatic delineation of the lake coastline from satellite images. The ordinary kriging interpolation with a stable model was used to interpolate the water depths dataset. Finally a triangulated irregular network (TIN) model was used to visualize the resulting interpolation model. Calculated values of area and volume of a TIN model during 2011 were compared with values of supposed initial operation of the reservoir. The differences of water volume storage between these stages at 321 m water level was about 0.81 × 10⁹ m³, where the lake lost around 10% of storage value. Also the results of depths lake model show that the change in water storage between March and July 2011 was about 3.08 × 10⁹ m³.

Water Depth, DEM, Bathymetry Map, Mosul Lake

O. Khattab, M. , Abo, R. , Al-Muqdadi, S. and Merkel, B. (2017) Generate Reservoir Depths Mapping by Using Digital Elevation Model: A Case Study of Mosul Dam Lake, Northern Iraq. Advances in Remote Sensing, 6, 161-174. doi: 10.4236/ars.2017.63012.