Geoinformation technologies for studying the effects of water level fluctuation of Lake Baikal: the case of Angarsky Sor

Abstract

Abstract Lake Baikal is the world’s deepest lake and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The most severe environmental problem facing the lake is the impact of water level regime fluctuation related to natural and human-caused factors. A core region under study is selected a territory of the Angarsky Sor – a shallow bay located in the Northeast of the lake. The research into a changing water content of the territory is based on imaginary provided by the Landsat-8 satellite. The study is focused on photographs taken in the high-water summer 2014 and in the law water level year 2015. The outcome of performed calculations is that an area of marshy and excessively wet regions has decreased more than 1.5 times, whereas there is a slight increase in the area of droughty waterless zones. Principal changes have been detected in the northern and north-eastern part of the Sor territory. Geoinformation technologies and remote sensing methods are considered to be efficient for the monitoring water level fluctuations, changes in the water surface area and vegetation mantle state of land ecosystems in the Sor region, what is essential for the preserving unique wetlands of the Angarsky Sor.