Lake Urmia
One of the world's fastest-shrinking salt lakes.
8,579.9 hectares changed — water gone · Before: 1 Jul 2017 – 30 Sep 2017 · After: 1 Jul 2023 – 30 Sep 2023 · 37.600, 45.500
BEFORE 2017-09
AFTER 2023-09
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8,579.9 haarea changed
15areas flagged
10,020 haarea examined
2satellites used
What changed, by type
8,574.1 haWater disappeared
3.9 haNew water / flooding
1.9 haNew construction / earthworks
Land changes in both directions at once. SCOPE reports every type it measured, not only the one that makes the better headline.
What SCOPE found
Water disappeared — 8,557.4 ha
0.6 km north-east · 73% sure
0.6 km north-east · 73% sure
Water disappeared — 2.9 ha
3.9 km south · 71% sure
3.9 km south · 71% sure
New water / flooding — 2.2 ha
4.9 km east · 53% sure
4.9 km east · 53% sure
New construction / earthworks — 1.9 ha
5.1 km east · 59% sure
5.1 km east · 59% sure
Water disappeared — 1.9 ha
4.2 km south-west · 64% sure
4.2 km south-west · 64% sure
How sure is this?
The strongest area (#1) has 73% confidence. It appears in 3 of 6 later clear images, so it is not a one-day artefact. Radar could not confirm or rule them out (normal for vegetation changes), so the result rests on repeated clear optical views and the seasonal comparison. Only 0% of the area had clear optical views, so some change may be hidden by cloud. Note: Optical imagery was unusable (cloud); results rely on Sentinel-1 radar only. Confidence measures how strong the evidence for real surface change is; it does not identify the cause or who did it.
How it was measured
SCOPE used Sentinel-2 optical imagery at 10 m, cloud-masked and combined over each
period, Sentinel-1 radar as an independent check
.
The analysis took 15 seconds.
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