Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing (August 2021) 49(8):1927–1938

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-021-01365-y(0123456789().,-volV)
(0123456789().,-volV)

RESEARCH ARTICLE

High-resolution Alos Palsar for the Characterization of Water Storage

at the Fountaine Des Gazelles Dam in Biskra, Eastern Algeria
Abdelhalim Bendib1

Received: 9 November 2020 / Accepted: 1 April 2021 / Published online: 15 April 2021
Ó Indian Society of Remote Sensing 2021

Abstract
This study estimates water volume variations in the Fontaine des Gazelles Dam in the province of Biskra using high-,
medium-, and low-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs). The water surface was extracted using NDWI, and the
volume of storage was obtained using the water elevation and spatial analysis. The results obtained in comparison with
Peng equation show that there exists a significant change in the water surface. This represents a decrease of more than 29
hm3 between 2005 and 2020, on which precipitations were found to be the main factor of these changes. For validation
purposes, NRMSE and MAPE were used. Respectively, with values of 1.30% and 1.50% for Alos Palsar, 8.10% and 8.70%
for SRTM1, and 8.20% and 10.10% for SRTM3, it is clear that Alos Palsar performs much better results. This leads us to
conclude that Alos Palsar is the most reliable to be adopted in studies related to water volume variations.

Keywords Alos Palsar  Fontaine des Gazelles  Biskra  Precipitations  Water volume

Introduction
Algeria is classified as one of the poorest countries in the
world in terms of water resources because 90% of its land
is desert. More than 2 million sq km are characterized not
only by high temperatures that can exceed 45 °C but also
by scarce rainfall. According to Sekkoum et al. (2012), the
annual average rainfall is estimated at 100 billion m3
which is very irregular (200 mm in the north and 12 mm in
the south).
Today, with 40 million inhabitants, the country requires
a significant mobilization of water resources to accom-
modate its socioeconomic development. For this purpose,
the national water strategy focuses on making the most of
existing water resources through desalination for the
coastal cities, dams to irrigate the inland mountains and
high plateau, and water transfer projects to water-scarce
parts of the country (Drouiche et al., 2012). The People’s
Democratic Republic of Algeria PDRA (2011) reported
that to address this situation, a total of 63 dams are in
& Abdelhalim Bendib
halim.bendib@hotmail.com
1
Department of Geography and Spatial Planning, University
of Oran 2, Oran, Algeria
operation across the country. They were built for providing
an annual volume of more than 20 billion m3 of water for
human consumption, industry, and irrigation (Benfetta &
Ouadja, 2017). According to Bessenasse et al. (2012), the
total capacity of the Algerian dams is estimated to be 6.2
billion m3, with a considerable quantity estimated at 40
hm3, decreasing each year for many reasons (leakage,
sedimentation, and evaporation). However, the exploitation
of water resources in arid and semiarid zones poses many
issues. The exploitation of surface water using surface
dams is heavily exposed to evaporation in the dry season
(Ouerdachi et al., 2012), the problem of leaks in earth dams
(Ratiat et al., 2020), and more recently surface water pol-
lution (Guergazi & Achour, 2011). According to Stratfor
Worldview (2016) report, Algeria relies heavily on
expensive water management solutions, and without gov-
ernment investment, the availability and quality of the
water supply will continue to decline.
Artificial surface water is an essential part of engineer-
ing structures for water resource management and the main
source for providing water supplies (Guntner et al., 2004).
The majority of these structures are built to store water
during the humid periods, to be used during the dry peri-
ods. The structures also regulate river flows, reduce
catastrophic impacts, control floods, and help with

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irrigation, hydropower generation, and other water uses
(Gao et al., 2012). Various studies that have examined the
management of dams continue to be of interest to
researchers, in areas such as siltation phenomena (Alahiane
et al., 2016), control of dam evaporation (Saggai and Bachi
2018), seepage phenomena (Amnyattalab & Rezaie, 2018),
and seismic hazards (Zacchei et al., 2017). Several studies
have looked at water storage estimates, and different
approaches have been proposed for a wide range of
domains. These approaches include the following: analyt-
ical methods (AM) and the ensemble Kalman filter devel-
oped by Deng et al. (2015), an adaptive network-based
fuzzy inference system proposed by Unes et al. (2019),
unmanned aerial vehicles techniques (Ridolfi & Manciola,
2018), a mathematical programming model (Sun et al.,
2011), and the ENVISAT Radar Altimeter (RA-2) and
Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) images
(Medina et al., 2010). Data are also obtained through a
combination of different satellite altimetry databases such
as Global Reservoir and Lake Monitoring, River Lake
Hydrology, Hydroweb, and ICESat-GLAS level 2 Global
Land Surface Altimetry (Duan & Bastiaanssen, 2013).
In an era in which significant technological progress is
occurring, remote sensing in combination with satellite
data has become a powerful tool for assessing climate
change (Yang et al., 2013), and knowledge of variations in
water volumes in lakes and reservoirs is essential for
studying water balance and developing strategies to
maintain it (Duan & Bastiaanssen, 2013). Numerical data
of water volumes in the Fontaine des Gazelles Dam are
limited because of bureaucratic practices and security
reasons. In this paper, an alternative is to use remote
sensing techniques and geographic information systems
(GIS) in the diachronic estimation of water volumes in the
arid zone. Through the activities of many earth observation
satellites, several data with different spatial resolutions and
coverage can be used to estimate the volumes of water. In
this study, we also look for precision by orienting our
choice toward a comparison of the following three
numerical elevation models: Alos Palsar (12.5 m) and two
Shuttle Radar and Topography Mission products (SRTM3
90 m and SRTM1 30 m).
The study is organized into three main sections. The first
section gives a background to the study area. The second
section provides highlights on the data collected and the
methodology used in extracting water body surface and
dam water storage through an empirical equation. The third
section compares and discusses the results obtained using
three main parameters: the correlation coefficient (R2), the
normalized root-mean-square error (NRMSE), and the
mean absolute percentage error (MAPE).
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Description of Study Area
This study concerns an artificial wetland in the munici-
pality of El-Outaya, which is 35 km northeast of the city of
Biskra, and more than 450 km from the capital, Algiers.
Situated between 35°70 7.200 ’ and 35°80 48.930 ’ North lati-
tude, and 5°340 4.360 ’ and 5°360 56.460 ’ East longitude,
Fontaine des Gazelles Dam (Fig. 1) was built with a total
capacity of 55.49 hm3 (Athmani et al. 2018) to regulate
flows and for the irrigation of more than 1100 ha of agri-
cultural land and palm trees in the municipality of El-
Outaya (ANAT, 2003). The dam was inaugurated in 2000
and went into full operation in 2006 after five years of the
progressive filling (Tebbi, 2014). A quota of 4 hm3 was
designed for irrigation of agricultural land by emptying the
dam, and an annual allocation of 10 hm3 was also designed
for irrigation by pipeline. This dam is the second in the
region, after Foum El Gherza Dam at 42 km, which is
intended to irrigate more than 300,000 date palms in the
oases and to irrigate the perimeters of Sidi Okba, Seriana,
Thouda, and Garta, as well as to produce electricity for the
entire region of Biskra (Remini et al. 2018).
Situated between 347 and 2134 m altitudes, the dam is
fed by waters flowing from Oued El-Hai, through Oued
Tamtam, and Oued El Melah, with an average annual
supply of more than 20 hm3. The watershed is character-
ized by a surface area of more than 175,871 ha crossing
two climatic zones; a semiarid zone in the province of
Batna with a total area of 143,131.86 ha and an arid zone in
the province of Biskra with an area of 32,739.71 ha. This
entire area is characterized by low slopes, 74.25% of them
do not exceed 12° while 25.75% of the watershed has
slopes above 12°.
According to the data obtained from WorldClim (http://
worldclim.org), the study area is characterized by a semi-
arid climate with large seasonal variations in temperature
and precipitation. Indeed, the annual average temperature
is about 20.05 °C and ranges from 3.75 °C in December to
41.54 °C in July. Also, the area has an annual average
rainfall of 307.69 mm, ranging from 6.81 mm in July to
36.82 mm in November.
Materials and Methods
The objective of this study is to find the water volume of
the Fontaine des Gazelles Dam using high-, medium-, and
low-resolution DEMs, as well as to analyze the effect of
variations in annual precipitation and temperatures on the
stored water level. In this respect, the present work is based
on the use of numerous satellite images (Table 1) obtained
free of charge from United States Geological Survey
Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing (August 2021) 49(8):1927–1938 1929

Fig. 1 Study area, watershed limits (top), and north Algeria (bottom) Palsar

(USGS) Earth Explorer portal (https://earthexplorer.usgs.
gov/), and (https://glovis.usgs.gov).
This paper selects eight scene images of Landsat series
satellites (including four scenes of Landsat 5 TM for the
period 2005–2011 and four scenes of Landsat 8 LDCM for
the period 2013–2020) to extract the water body of the
dam. Furthermore, to get more representative results, the
imaging time of the selected images is concentrated mostly
in June. According to Lai et al. (2019), at this time, the
temperature rises quickly, the reservoir has no ice, the
weather is fine, and the effect of clouds is less, so the image
quality is good.
Several DEMs are freely available on the web (Aster
GDEM, GMTED2010, SRTM products, Alos palsar, etc.).
In this study, we chose to compare very high-resolution
Alos palsar (12.5 m) with two Shuttle Radar and Topog-
raphy Mission products (SRTM3 and SRTM1). This choice
of SRTM products is based on the results of a study con-
ducted by Rexer and Hirt (2014), in which a comparison
between GDEM and SRTM DEM shows that SRTM
products are mostly superior and show the best vertical
accuracy. The high-resolution Alos Palsar DEM was
downloaded from the Alaska Satellite Facility (https://
search.asf.alaska.edu) and the low-resolution USGS
SRTM3 (90 m) is obtained too from the official NASA site

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Table 1 Details of data used in

Satellite Bands Resolution Path/Row Date of acquisition
the study
Landsat 5 TM 4, 3, 2 30 194/36 7/5/2005
Landsat 5 TM 4, 3, 2 30 194/36 14/6/2007
Landsat 5 TM 4, 3, 2 30 194/36 6/6/2010
Landsat 5 TM 4, 3, 2 30 194/36 9/6/2011
Landsat 8 LDCM 5, 4, 3 30 194/36 14/6/2013
Landsat 8 LDCM 5, 4, 3 30 194/36 20/6/2015
Landsat 8 LDCM 5, 4, 3 30 194/36 28/6/2018
Landsat 8 LDCM 5, 4, 3 30 194/36 30/4/2020
USGS/NASA SRTM1 / 30 / 11/2/2000
USGS/NASA SRTM3 / 90 / 11/2/2000
Alos palsar data / 12.5 656 17/6/2008

USGS earth explorer. The medium-resolution USGS
SRTM1 (30 m) is obtained from the GPS visualizer site
(https://www.gpsvisualizer.com/elevation). These models
were used to extract and compare the level of the water
surface, which allowed us to extract the volume of the dam
for different dates.
The various satellite data were processed in a multi-
software platform. For this purpose, we used the following
software: ArcGIS10.3 for data management, spatial anal-
ysis, and cartography of the results, ENVI4.7 to extract
water body, and Global mapper 13 is used in particular to
find the exact water elevation. The main steps are sum-
marized in Fig. 2.
Water Body Extraction
In this study, water body extraction is a decisive step.
Various quickly and easily methods and index have been
developed through the combination of multi-bands to avoid
the complications and errors of the supervised/
unsupervised classification of images, which highly
depends on human knowledge of the study area (Li et al.,
2016); Automated Water Extraction Index (Feyisa et al.,
2014), Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (Xu,
2006), Revised Normalized Different Water Index (Cao
et al., 2008), Index of Water Surfaces (Hassani et al.,
2014), General Water Index (Yang & Xu, 1998), Enhanced
water Index EWI (Yang & Du, 2017), and AWEIsh-su-
perimposed MNDWI (Lai et al., 2019).
Taking into account the role of the water surface in
determining the volume of the dam, it is important to
choose the index capable of estimating the water surface
with great precision. In this paper, we used the Normalized
Difference Water Index (NDWI) to extract the water body
area. Based on many studies in the field (Acharya et al.,
2018; Peng et al., 2006), we conclude that the NDWI seems
most able to extract water area with accuracy.
Proposed by Mcfeeters (1996), the NDWI enhances
water spectral signals by contrasting the reflectance
between different wavelengths and removing a large

Fig. 2 The main flowchart of

retrieving water storage of
Fontaine des Gazelles Dam

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portion of noise components in different wavelength
regions (Gao, 1996; Gao et al., 2016).
Water Body Elevation Extraction
After extraction of the water surface area using the NDWI,
the problem that arises is to find the exact water elevation
while tiny shifts between the satellite image Landsat and
booth DEMs (Alos Palsar and SRTM3) can give erroneous
results. To solve this problem, the polyline layers of the
water surface obtained by applying NDWI were superim-
posed on that of the numerical elevation model, and the
average altitude of the water surface was obtained by
extracting the altitudes for each vertex of the perimeter. For
more accuracy, an important number of vertex (1249) were
extracted for the selected years; 186 vertex in 2005, 184
vertex in 2007, 132 vertex in 2010, 169 vertex in 2011, 149
vertex in 2013, 157 vertex in 2015, 132 vertex in 2018, and
140 vertex in 2020. The obtained altitude allowed us to find
the water surface of the dam with high precision.
In the second step, the obtained water elevation was
used as an input to find the water storage. The process is
done with the aid of the surface volume tool in ArcGIS
10.3 software.
Water Storage Estimation and Validation
After extraction of the volume of water by a method based
on remote sensing and spatial analysis (surface volume), it
is important to assess the results empirically by estimating
the volume of water stored for the selected periods.
Several formulas for several areas and types of water
surface have been developed (Gao et al., 2012; Guntner
et al., 2004; Hayashi & Van Der Kamp, 2000; Minke et al.,
2010; Mohammadzadeh-Habili et al., 2009). In this study,
we focus on the use of the equation proposed by Peng et al.
(2006). By its simplicity and the availability of relative
data for each term, this equation is a good choice.
The equation is given as follows:
 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Viþ1 ¼ Ai þ Aiþ1 þ Ai  Aiþ1 DZ=3Þ
DZ ¼ ðZiþ1  Zi Þ
where Viþ1 is the water storage between two consecutive
elevations. Ai and Aiþ1 are water surface area at the water
elevation of Zi and Ziþ1 , respectively.
To evaluate the results and determine the optimal model,
the following three parameters were considered to quantify
the accuracy of the water storage estimations: (1) the cor-
relation coefficient (R2), which defines the weight of the
relationship between the remote sensing and empirical
water storage estimations. (2) The NRMSE, which calcu-
lates the residual value between the remote sensing and
1931
empirical water storage estimation, and (3) the MAPE,
which provides an estimate of the overall agreement
between the remote sensing and empirical water storage
estimations.
Results and Discussion
In the absence of numerical data, finding alternative means
to estimate water storage in dams is becoming increasingly
important. The main objective of this study was to estimate
the volume of water in the Fontaine des Gazelles Dam
(province of Biskra) using a method based on remote
sensing and geographic information systems. The process
involved comparing a few DEMs and mapping the dia-
chronic variations of the dam’s water surface.
By superimposing the perimeter of the water surface
with the set of DEMs used in this study, the water elevation
of the dam was accurately determined. Moreover, a spatial
analysis was used to obtain the water volumes for each
model for the period 2005–2020 (Table 2). Figure 3 sum-
marizes the changes in the dam’s water surface and water
volumes over 15 years through topographical profiles.
Analysis of Fig. 3 clarifies that the dam underwent
remarkable changes in its surface, and consequently, in its
water levels. According to Liebe (2002), this result can be
explained in more than one way: (1) inter-annual rainfall
variability, which accounts for a relative maximum water
level, (2) time of year/season (intra-annual variations), (3)
water withdrawal (for irrigation, gardening, cattle rearing,
household uses, construction uses, etc.), (4) storage
reduction through evaporation, seepage, and percolation,
and (5) the age of the dam.
In this study, an empirical method was called to validate
the findings. For this purpose, Peng et al. (2006) formula
was chosen. Moreover, before comparing and interpreting
the results, it is important to check the compatibility of the
present formula. Based on the water elevations and surface
areas, we derived the elevation–area relationship, which
can be used to estimate dam storage. Linear regression was
used to validate the relationship between the surface ele-
vation and surface area. The estimated correlation of
99.65% (R2 = 0.9932) indicates a strong positive correla-
tion between the surface elevation and surface area
(Fig. 4). Thus, the equation proposed was adequate for
estimating the volume of water. The volume of water
stored was obtained and is shown in Table 3.
The formula was compared with the remote sensing
findings. Based on Fig. 5 and Table 2, it can be concluded
that the results obtained using the Alos Palsar DEM
(12.5 m) and the empirical method of Peng et al. (2006)
demonstrated good agreement. Moreover, the visual com-
parison among these methods showed that the medium-
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Table 2 Water storage (WS)

Year 2005 2007 2010 2011 2013 2015 2018 2020
estimation by remote sensing
(values in hm3) Alos Palsar (12.5 m) WS 52.18 46.32 43.27 45.34 29.74 17.43 18.16 22.63
SRTM1 (30 m) WS 54.91 50.11 45.56 47.90 31.04 20.04 20.10 24.88
SRTM3 (90 m) WS 49.30 43.18 39.68 42.79 27.41 15.59 16.50 20.60

Fig. 3 Water body extraction and water levels for the period 2005–2020

Fig. 4 Relationship between surface elevation and surface area

Table 3 Water storage (WS)

Year 2005 2007 2010 2011 2013 2015 2018 2020
estimation using the empirical
method of Peng et al. (2006) Water elevation (m) 418.16 417.06 416.27 416.95 413.25 409.30 409.61 411.11
Water storage (hm3) 51.88 46.29 42.40 45.77 29.59 16.69 17.57 22.05

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Fig. 5 Time series of water storage estimations by remote sensing and empirical methods (values in hm3)
resolution (30 m) and low-resolution (90 m) SRTM ele-
vation model differs from the above models. These vari-
ances were significant and ongoing over the entire study
period (2005–2020), raising questions about the suitability
of using SRTM products to predict dam water levels. This
difference can be explained only by the effects of DEM
spatial resolution on the accuracy of the results. On the
other hand, the same results reveal another important
observation. We found that the finest DEM resolution does
not always provide the best accuracy. For instance, the
high-resolution (12.5 m) DEM provided better results than
the low-resolution (90 m), at the same time, the 90 m
resolution DEM achieved better results than medium-res-
olution (30 m). This result is approved by many studies
(Chen et al., 2020; Kariminejad et al., 2019).
After comparing the values obtained from remote
sensing with the empirical values (Peng et al. 2006) a high
correlation emerged and the values were almost the same.
More specifically, the results from the high-resolution
elevation model (Fig. 6a) yielded a correlation equal to
99.984% (R2 = 0.9997), whereas the model with a mod-
erate resolution (Fig. 6b) was slightly more precise with a
correlation equal to 99.989% (R2 = 0.9998). The low-res-
olution SRTM3 DEM (Fig. 6c) revealed a correlation of
99.849% (R2 = 0.997). Based on Fig. 7, the NRMSE
Fig. 6 Remote sensing and Peng et al. 2006 empirical water storage estimation relationship; a Alos Palsar DEM (12.5 m), b SRTM1 DEM
(30 m), and c SRTM3 DEM (90 m), values in hm3
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provided a more relative measure of the error, enabling a
better assessment of the model’s accuracy. Statistically, the
model featuring Alos Palsar DEM (12.5 m) had a lower
error (NRMSE = 1.3%). The highest NRMSE was
obtained using a low-resolution SRTM3 model
(NRMSE = 8.20%). The moderate values were obtained by
using the SRTM1 model (resolution of 30 m) with the
NRMSE being equal to 8.10%.
The MAPE indicates the extent of errors in percentage
(Ridolfi & Manciola, 2018). As can be seen in Table 4, the
extent errors between the three models were distinctive.
With its high resolution, Alos Palsar was characterized by a
low extent error (1.50%); this was in contrast to the med-
ium-resolution SRTM1 DEM, which had an extent error of
8.70%. The low-resolution SRTM3 DEM had an extent
error of 8.10%, this is an important finding, prompting
questions about the validity of using this model in esti-
mating dam levels.
As a result, the linear regressions for the three models
were close to one another. They were also higher, which
means the correlation coefficient did not provide satisfac-
tory and decisive answers with which to judge the appli-
cability of the present approach. Further, the results
revealed that NRMSE and MAPE facilitated comparison
between models, and it was clear that high-resolution DEM
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Fig. 7 Remote sensing and Peng et al. 2006 empirical water storage estimation error; a Alos Palsar DEM (12.5 m), b SRTM1 DEM (30 m), and
c SRTM3 DEM (90 m), values in hm3

Table 4 Correlation coefficient

R2 (%) NRMSE (%) MAPE (%)
(R2), NRMSE, and MAPE for
remotely sensing empirical High-resolution Alos Palsar DEM (12.5 m) 99.984 1.30 1.50
water storage estimations
Medium-resolution SRTM1 DEM (30 m) 99.989 8.10 8.70
Low-resolution SRTM3 DEM (90 m) 99.849 8.20 8.10

yielded the best results. This study concludes that Alos
Palsar, in this study, is the only valid and reliable model for
studies related to dam storage levels, especially for those
investigating arid areas.
The volume of water stored was determined at the end
of this study using three numerical elevation models (low,
moderate, and high resolution) from 2005 to 2020. Peng
et al. 2006 formula and three validation indices (R2,
NRMSE, and MAPE) were also used. The study concluded
that the precise volume of the dam could be determined
using the high-resolution Alos Palsar model (12.5 m).
Based on Table 5, the results clearly showed that the water
surface in the dam decreased significantly, from 5.601
million m2 in 2005 to 5.100 million m2 in 2007 and 4.755
million m2 in 2010. Also, a small increase was noted in
2011, for a total surface of 4.986 million m2. A consider-
able decrease in the dam’s water surface was recorded in
2013 and 2015, at 3.667 million m2 and 2.598 million m2,
respectively. The last two years showed a significant
increase from 2.672 million m2 in 2018 to 3.069 million m2
in 2020. Indeed, this change in the water surface was
logically followed by changes in the water elevation, and
as a result, the storage capacity of the dam. In 2005, the
reference year, the dam reached its estimated storage of
52.18 hm3 (418.16 m) after a few years of the progressive
filling (2001–2004). This was followed by five years of
remarkable decreases in the volume, estimated at 46.32
hm3 (417.06 m) and 43.27 hm3 (416.27 m) in 2007 and
2010, respectively. In 2011, the dam recorded an increase
in volume at 45.34 hm3 (413.25 m), this was followed by a
second wave of stock decline at 29.74 hm3 (413.25 m) in
2013 and 17.43 hm3 (409.31 m) in 2015.
The last two years saw an increase in the water volume
at a low rate, estimated at 18.16 hm3 (409.61 m) in 2018
and 22.63 hm3 (411.11 m) in 2020.
In general, from 15 years of data and the models used to
achieve the reported statistics, it can be concluded that
there has been a significant change in the water volume of
the dam. It represents a decrease of more than 29 hm3 (a
decrease of more than 2.5 million m2). According to Chai
et al. (2018), water level variations are affected by many
factors, including climate variability, reservoir operation,
backwater effect, irrigation and living water, and human
sand excavation. In this study, it is not easy to assess the
contribution of each factor to water level variations. For
this purpose, this study focused on the effects of climatic

Table 5 Fontaine des Gazelles Dam water storage as obtained by Alos Palsar DEM (12.5 m)
2005 2007 2010 2011 2013 2015 2018 2020

Surface elevation (m) 418.16 417.06 416.27 416.95 413.25 409.31 409.61 411.11
Surface area (million m2) 5.601 5.100 4.755 4.986 3.667 2.598 2.672 3.069
Water storage (hm3) 52.18 46.32 43.27 45.34 29.74 17.43 18.16 22.63

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elements (especially precipitation and temperatures). The
study downloaded the climatic data free of charge from
(https://globalweather.tamu.edu/). The site contains records
made by the Fontaine des Gazelles monitoring station for
the period 1979–2014.
According to Fig. 8, with a correlation coefficient of
more than 95% (R2 = 0.914), there was a strong positive
correlation between precipitation and the volume of water
being stored. Indeed, comparing the annual changes in
precipitation with the volume of water stored, it seems that
precipitation plays the most important role in water level
changes, especially when it is an important watershed with
an area of more than 175,871 ha crossing two climatic
zones. A semiarid zone in the province of Batna (total area
of 143,131.86 ha), and an arid zone in the province of
Biskra (an area of more than 32,739 ha).
Conversely, temperatures exhibited a limited role in the
annual variations of the storage level with a correlation
equal to 68.78% (R2 = 0.4724). However, compared to
other factors (irrigation, emptying, and discharge), the
temperature has a significant effect on the variations in
water storage after precipitation. According to Tebbi
(2014) during 2002–2011, the dam received a total con-
tribution of 322 hm3, of which 39% was discharged, 12%
was drained, 21% was destined for irrigation, and
Fig. 8 Effect of climate parameters on the change in the volume of water stored in the Fontaine des Gazelles Dam, precipitation (high), and
temperatures (low)
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approximately 28% (90.16 hm3), a considerable part, was
evaporated. This result is approved by a study conducted
by Ouerdachi et al. (2012) where an evaporation loss of
9106 m3 was measured in 2012.
On the other hand, the watershed of the dam undergoes
specific degradation exceeding 800 t/km2/year with high
suspended material (turbidity exceeding 160 g/l), which
amounts to a loss of enormous capacity of the dam
(Ouerdachi et al., 2012). As mentioned previously, 74.25%
of areas do not exceed 12°. This dominance of low slopes
was reflected by a siltation rate estimated at 0.25 hm3/year
in 2017. Indeed, this phenomenon of sedimentation is
observed, also, in the Dam of Foum El Gherza (at 42 km)
and which shares the same area and the same conditions
(climate, soil, etc.). Over 64 years (1950–2014), the dam
experienced an estimated decrease in volume of 32 hm3
(76%). A study conducted by Ratiat et al. (2020) shows
that the dam is subject to leaks in its right bank. The
problem is due to underground seepage caused by a fault
below the dam foundation. With a flow of leaks corre-
sponds to 2.5 l/s to the level of 364 m springs on the toe of
the dam and in the middle of the spillway flow channel,
appear.
In summary, although the Alos Palsar model has its
advantages, it has a major disadvantage, as well as the
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1936 Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing (August 2021) 49(8):1927–1938
weak coverage of Algeria. In 2020, barely 7.5% of the
national territory has been covered, which makes the study
of other more important dams, such as the Beni Haroune
Dam (the largest in Algeria) still impossible. Another
disadvantage is that the Alos Polsar DEM provides a
slightly higher altitude value than the SRTM DEM which
requires special attention when using this model.
However, the Alos Palsar DEM has proven its abilities
in several fields, such as extracting drainage networks
(Niipele & Chen, 2019), and floodplain monitoring (Ar-
nesen et al., 2013), the results obtained in this study show
that Alos Palsar is also capable of retrieving, with accu-
racy, water storage in an arid area.
Conclusion
This study aims to estimate the water level of an Algerian
dam whose records are often absent or difficult to obtain. In
this case, Fontaine des Gazelles Dam, located in an arid area,
was chosen. The dam was commissioned in 2005 which made
it suitable for this study especially to determine the mor-
phology of the dam. This allowed us to estimate the volume
of water with great precision. In this respect, eight satellite
images were chosen to extract the water surface for the period
2005–2020. Then, three numerical models of different reso-
lutions were also adopted. These are Alos Palsar (12.5 m)
very high resolution, SRTM1 (30 m) medium resolution, and
SRTM3 (90 m) low resolution. A geospatial information
process was followed to extract the volume of water. First, the
extraction of the water surface using the famous NDWI
allowed us to extract the diachronic variations of the dam.
Then, using the three DEMs, the volume of water was
determined with great precision. This volume was validated
using a mathematical equation of which Peng et al. 2006
appear to be more efficient.
For validation purposes, three parameters were applied
R2, NRMSE, and MAPE. Respectively, with values of
99.97%, 1.30%, and 1.50% for Alos Palsar, 99.98%,
8.10%, and 8.70% for SRTM1, and 99.70%, 8.20%, and
10.10% for SRTM3, it is clear that Alos Palsar performs
much better results. This leads us to conclude that Alos
Palsar is the most reliable model to be adopted in studies
related to water volume variations, especially in arid areas.
Also, this study found that the finest DEM resolution does
not always provide the best accuracy. For instance, the
high-resolution DEM provided better results than the low-
resolution, at the same time, the 90 m resolution DEM
achieved better results than medium-resolution.
Funding The present study was not funded by any company or
person.
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