Limitations in Delineating Lake Shoreline in Cloud Contaminated Landsat Images

Bull Lake Reservoir is the primary irrigation water source for the ceded portion of the Wind River Reservation. The Saratoga National Fish Hatchery also keeps the lake stocked with trout; enabling the Wind River Indian Reservation to sell fishing licenses as part of its income. As it is such an important water resource, Bull Lake must be monitored so that the resource can be properly managed. Remotely sensed images, such as those collected by Landsat, can be used to delineate Bull Lake's shorelines and map its changing surface area. However, presence of clouds and their shadows disrupts the delineation of shorelines. The objective of this project was to quantify the amount of error introduced by different types of clouds and shadows while delineating the shoreline of Bull Lake. Results from this study will provide valuable insight for selecting suitable Landsat images for reconstructing past changes in a lake's surface area.