Performances Evaluation of Surface Water Areas Extraction Techniques Using Landsat ETM plus Data: Case Study Aswan High Dam Lake (AHDL)

Aswan High Dam Lake (AHDL) is the major freshwater body supplying Egypt with water used for various purposes. This paper aims to detect the better technique for extraction of the water surface of AHDL. Eight techniques are tested using Landsat ETM+ image and their performances in extracting the surface water area are evaluated. The eight techniques include Supervised and Unsupervised image classification techniques, Water Ratio Index [WRI], Normalized Difference Vegetation Index [NDVI], Normalized Difference Water Index [NDWI], Modified Normalized Difference Water Index [MNDWI], Automated Water Extraction Index [AWEI], and Normalized Difference Moisture Index [NDMI]. The results illustrate the effectiveness of the unsupervised technique, as it gave an overall accuracy about 99.91%. It is recommended to apply this technique in areas with similar conditions to efficiently extract the surface water areas from Landsat ETM+ data. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.