CHANGE DETECTION OF LAKE ABA SAMUEL IN ETHIOPIA

Abstract. Old topographic map published in 1975 elaborated from aerial photographs taken in 1972, Landsat TM data acquired in May 1986 and Landsat ETM+ from June 2002 have been used to assess the changes of the lake Aba Samuel in Ethiopia. First map of the lake has been done in the framework of UNDP project running in 1988-90 in the Ethiopian Mapping Authority. The second classification map has been done as M.Sc. thesis in the MUT in 2015. Supervised classification methods with the use of ground truth data have been used for elaboration of the Landsat TM data. From the year 1972 up to 1986 the area of the lake has decreased by 23%. From 1986 up to 2002 the area of the lake has decreased by 20%. Therefore, after 30 years the lake was smaller by 43%. This have had very bad influence on the lives of the local population. From other recent data in the period from 2002-2015 the lake has practically disappeared and now it is only a small part of the river Akaki. ENVI 5.2 and ERDAS IMAGINE 9.2 have been used for Radiometric Calibration, Quick Atmospheric Correction (QUAC) and supervised classification of Landsat ETM+ data. The Optimum Index Factor shows the best combination of Landsat TM and ETM+ bands for color composite as 1,4,5 in the color filters: B, G, R for the signature development. Methodology and final maps are enclosed in the paper.