Research

Earth observation for quantifying ecohydrological fluxes and interrelations; the Konya closed basin - Turkey

Disproportional water demands and use in semi-arid regions cause serious ecological and environmental consequences such as degradation of natural vegetation and draining of wetlands, desertification, depletion of groundwater resources, soil erosion and salinization. This figure keeps worsening globally in the semi-arid regions considering the increasing population and the related demand on water by human activities.

The main objective of this research study is to effectively utilize earth observation methods to quantify the hydrological and energy fluxes and eco-environmental variables in the semi-arid Konya closed basin spatio-temporally and with good accuracy. It is further aimed to develop a methodology integrating remote sensing, field techniques and modelling to quantitatively analyze the spatio-temporal relations among water, energy and eco-environmental variables at regional and local scale.

The research questions under consideration are:

1. Can we utilize RS methods for accurately quantifying hydrological fluxes spatio-temporally to support closing the water balance of the semi-arid closed basin? And can we validate and improve the accuracy of the fluxes using field techniques such as Bowen Ratio Energy Balance (BREB)? 
2. Integrating RS, field and time series methods effectively, can we reveal the inter-relations among hydrology, energy and environmental variables quantitatively to understand feedback mechanisms at the regional and local scale? 
3. Can we utilize RS and time series approaches effectively for improving the understanding of controlling mechanisms regarding the available water in Lake Beysehir upstream catchment? 
4. Can we develop a method integrating RS, field and modeling approaches to effectively estimate the ecological water demand of the downstream?

Some initial figures and field photos

Figure 1: Daily evapotranspiration (mm) in Konya closed basin on June 10th, 2002

Figure 2: An overview of the study area (total surface are: 54,000 km²)

Figure 3: Vegetation (NDVI) in time. Method: yearly average of NDVI (Apr-Oct); data: MODIS 16-day composite NDVI product (250m).

Photo 1: Bowen ratio (BR) station in an irrigated agriculture field.

Photo 2:. Installing and downloading data from one of the BR stations.

 
Photo 3: Soil moisture (SM) sensor (left) and some initial data from the sensor (right).

Photos 4 and 5: A traditional dug well (left), and pumping groundwater for irrigation (right).

Photo 6: The downstream wetland and halophytic plants.

Photo 7: Harvesting sugar beets.