This document analyzes Sambhar Lake, India's largest inland saline lake, using satellite imagery from the Google Earth Engine platform during Phase 1 of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sambhar Lake is located at the confluence of three districts in Rajasthan, India and was designated as a Ramsar site in 1990 due to its importance for migratory birds and halophytic plants. The methodology section is blank, but the results and discussion sections analyze algal and salinity index values from 2019 to 2021 that show declining water quality and the threatened existence of the lake due to illegal saltpan encroachment and groundwater extraction.

1. WLC18-0091
1
Assessment of India’s largest inand saline lake
during the time frame of phase one COVID-19
pandemic using GEE platform
Rajashree Naik, Laxmi Kant Sharma and Alok Raj
Department of Environmental Science, School of Earth Sciences, Central
University of Rajasthan, Bandarsindri, Ajmer (Raj.) India;
rajashree.bini06@gmail.com

2. Introduction
There are different types of lakes.
Inland saline lakes are one of them.
They are away from coastal areas.
They differ from other lakes by having high salt concentration from 3
to 300 gm/ltr.
They are critical habitats of migratory birds and diverse halophiles
and halophytes
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3. Study area
It is located at the confluence of 3
district.
It was designated as a Ramsar site on
23 March 1990, under criteria A with
site No. 464.
The geographical coordinates are 26⁰
52′ to 27⁰ 02′ N; 74⁰ 54′ – 75⁰ 14′ It is
230 km2 (22.5 km in length and 3-1 km
in width).
Ephemeral streams (Mendha,
Rupnagar, Khandel, Kharian) form the
catchment of 5,520 km2.
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4. Methodology
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5. Results
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6. Discussion
• The result state that algal value
ranges from -0.432 to 0.555 in 2019,
0.136 to 0.696 in 202 and 0.020 to
1.094 in 2021.
• The values of salinity index state -
0.076 to 0.740 in 2019, -0.459 to 0.20
in 2020 and 0.012 to 0.261 in 2021.
• The results clearly state the
dubious state of its existence
due to ongoing illegal saltpan
encroachment and extensive
ground water extraction
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7. WLC18-0091 7
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