Zab River (IRAQ) sinuosity and meandering analysis based on the remote sensing data

Abstract

This work studies the meandering and change of paths along the Zab River in Iraq. Landsat-5 TM, Landsat-7 ETM+ and Landsat-8 (2-sets) images were acquired from the years 1989, 1999, 2015 and 2019, respectively, which were used together with Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques to study the changes. To determine the river/stream shape, the Sinuosity Index was calculated to classify Zab River segments into either the straight, sinuous or meandering class. Our findings via image analysis show coarse river migration and that most river segments fall into the two classes of sinuous and meander. In addition, it seems that the east bank of the Zab River region of the basin has extremely shifted where the river passes near the Kirkuk governorate.