Comparing Land use changes of the watersheds of Lake Azuei -Trou Caiman and Lago Enriquillo - Raguna del Rincon by utilizing Google Earth Engine

Abstract

Lake Azuei is the largest lake in Haiti and is contributing a vital source for a livelihood in the area. The lake swollen this decade similarly with Lago Enriquillo, There are possibility of urbanization impacts, earthquake-induced groundwater change, climate change induced precipitation change or extreme weather. The purpose of the study is to reveal the impact of deforestation in lake water body change by comparing lakes in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. I utilized AWEI nsh to deliver the water body changes from 1987-2018 with the changes in Land use maps (1984, 1991, 2002, 2003, 2013 and 2018) to see how both watersheds experienced differently. From the results, there are significant lake level rises in Lake Azuei (21% from 1990-2013) and Lago Enriquillo (101% from 2003-2013) started around 2005-7. Trou Caiman decreased its waterbody by 43% from 1992 to 2015. No trend that can be detected in Raguna del Rincon. There is an interconnectivity between Lake Azuei and Trou Caiman throughout the study period. Inversely, Lago Enriquillo and Raguna del Rincon did not show any relationships. In land cover changes, baresoil was increased over time in both Haiti (20% increase) and Dominican Republic (5% increase). Dominican Republic did not show dramatic change, but grassland transformed into baresoil. On the other hand, Haiti experienced the greater expansion of baresoil transformed from grassland, forest, and urban. The Dominican Republic basin have land cover change somewhat less pattern, while Haiti has experienced significant increasing trends in baresoil and urban and decreasing trends in grass and forest land over time. There is a possibility of human intervention which might have affected the lake level change such as clogged canals in Lake Azuei