Usage of Satellite Technology in Monitoring the Wetlands of Turkey, Tigris, and Euphrates Watershed

With the increase of anthropogenic activities, the importance of the essence of life, water, proportionally continues to rise. The effective use of water is vital as an important role in socio economic development of nations. Thus, frequent water bodies monitoring is a crucial part of their sustainable management. As remote sensing data is useful in monitoring water and wetland areas, in this chapter we investigate the usage of Earth Observation satellite technology for monitoring wetlands in one of the most significant parts not only in Turkey, but in Western Asia. Along with a brief literature review about wetlands and remote sensing, this chapter investigates the water areas in Tigris and Euphrates Watershed in Turkey using Landsat-8 satellite imagery. The historical investigation showed significant development in the studied area with the several dam constructions in the watershed. The usage of satellite technology is crucial to long‐term water planning and management that incorporate principles of sustainability to avoid ecological and environmental catastrophes.