Analysis and Evaluation of Land Use Changes in International Wetlands of Ala-Gol, Alma- Gol & Ajay-Gol In Turkaman Sahra, Using Multi-temporal Satellite Images

Extended 1-IntroductionAccording to the Ramsar Convention, wetlands are areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six meters. According to recent estimations, world wetlands account for 6.2 to 7.6 percent of earth’s surface.Wetlands are considered an integral part of the global ecosystem as they prevent or reduce severity of floods, feed groundwater aquifers and provide a unique habitat for flora and faun and lots of other benefits including water quality maintenance, agriculturalproduction, fisheries, and recreation. loodwater retention, provision of wildlife habitat, soil erosion control, maintaining the diversity of entire landscapes and are among other benefits. In addition, they can form cornerstone elements for regional conservation strategies.Zhao et al (2010) based on landscape data produced from integrated Landsat MSS/TM/ETM+ images and spatial metrics, presented a survey of wetland landscape changes in the Pearl River estuary from 1979 to 2009, and explored the spatio-temporal characteristics of wetland change.Yue et al (2003) using three series of satellite images in 1984, 1991 and 1996 studied changes in the landscape of the Yellow River Delta wetland.Kashaigili et al (2006) focused in their research on human and developmental activities in the study area for the periods 1973 and 1984, and 1984 and 2000. Landsat MSS and Landsat-TM images were used to locate and quantify the changes. Gilmore et al (2008) examined the effectiveness of using multi-temporal satellite imagery, and field spectral data to classify and map the common plant communities that may provide coastal resource managers, municipal officials and researchers a set of recommended guidelines for remote sensing data collection for marsh inventory and monitoring. International Wetlands of Ajay-Gol, Alma-Gol and Ala-Gol are located at, dry steppe and Warm Turkman sahra desert in Turkmenistan, near to the border of Iran and Turkmenistan. They are among unique ecosystems and international wetlands of Iran. In terms of geographic location, Alma gol Wetland is in geographical coordinates 37 25 N to 54 38 E and Aji gol Wetland is in 37 24 N to 54 40 E. Ala gol wetland is located in geographic coordinate of 37 20 northern latitude and 54 35 east. In this research, Changes of three international wetlands, that is Alma gol, Aji gol and Ala gol as globally important ecosystems are investigated