scholarly journals Minimizing the Impacts of Desertification in an Arid Region: A Case Study of the West Desert of Iraq

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Khamis Naba Sayl ◽  
Sadeq Oleiwi Sulaiman ◽  
Ammar Hatem Kamel ◽  
Nur Shazwani Muhammad ◽  
Jazuri Abdullah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Degradation ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Large Change ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Western Desert ◽  
Gis Environment ◽  
Small Change ◽  
Western Desert Of Iraq ◽  
Suitable Land

Currently, desertification is a major problem in the western desert of Iraq. The harsh nature, remoteness, and size of the desert make it difficult and expensive to monitor and mitigate desertification. Therefore, this study proposed a comprehensive and cost-effective method, via the integration of geographic information systems (GISs) and remote sensing (RS) techniques to estimate the potential risk of desertification, to identify the most vulnerable areas and determine the most appropriate sites for rainwater conservation. Two indices, namely, the Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Degradation Index (LDI), were used for a cadastral assessment of land degradation. The findings of the combined rainwater harvesting appropriateness map, and the maps of NDVI and LDI changes found that 65% of highly suitable land for rainwater harvesting lies in the large change and 35% lies in the small change of NDVI, and 85% of highly suitable land lies in areas with a moderate change and 12% lies in strong change of LDI. The adoption of the weighted linear combination (WLC) and Boolean methods within the GIS environment, and the analysis of NDVI with LDI changes can allow hydrologists, decision-makers, and planners to quickly determine and minimize the risk of desertification and to prioritize the determination of suitable sites for rainwater harvesting.

scholarly journals Rainwater Harvesting Using GIS Technique: A Case Study of Diyala Governorate, Iraq

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
Dhuha S. Al-Khafaji ◽  
Asraa Khtan Abdulkareem ◽  
Qusai Y. Al-Kubaisi
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Stream Order ◽  
Time Saving ◽  
Harvesting Systems ◽  
Gis Environment ◽  
Landsat Satellite

To improve the management of water resources in Iraq, there are several methods, including the use of rainwater harvesting techniques. In this study, the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Landsat satellite imagery were used under the GIS environment to identify the suitable zones for rainwater harvesting. The accomplishment of rainwater harvesting systems strongly depends on their technical designing and identifying the suitable sites. Six criteria have been used to identify the rainwater harvesting sites in the Diyala governorate. The procedure of identifying the suitable sites for rainwater harvesting was applied twice for the Diyala governorate. Firstly, it was applied by using the criteria of rainfall, slope, stream order, distance to roads, and land use, and secondly, rainfall, slope, stream order, distance to roads, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) criteria were used for this purpose. As a result, the study area was divided into three suitability zones: low, moderate, and high according to the specific criteria that were used to identify the rainwater harvesting suitable sites. It was found that in the application of land use criterion the low suitability zone represents 26%, 58% represents the moderate, and 16% for the high suitability zone, while in the method of NDVI it was found that 29% represents the zone that has low suitability, 57% represents the moderate, and 14% represents the high suitability zone. The compared results led to conclude that the land use is the most influential criterion for identifying the rainwater harvesting suitability sites and found that most of the Eastern parts of Diyala governorate are promising areas for rainwater harvesting and ArcGIS is a very useful, time-saving, and cost-effective tool for identifying the rainwater harvesting suitable sites.

scholarly journals Land Degradation Vulnerability Mapping in a Newly-Reclaimed Desert Oasis in a Hyper-Arid Agro-Ecosystem Using AHP and Geospatial Techniques

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1426
Author(s):  
Ahmed S. Abuzaid ◽  
Mohamed A. E. AbdelRahman ◽  
Mohamed E. Fadl ◽  
Antonio Scopa
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Quality Index ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Western Desert ◽  
Soil Quality Index ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Sensing Data

Modelling land degradation vulnerability (LDV) in the newly-reclaimed desert oases is a key factor for sustainable agricultural production. In the present work, a trial for usingremote sensing data, GIS tools, and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was conducted for modeling and evaluating LDV. The model was then applied within 144,566 ha in Farafra, an inland hyper-arid Western Desert Oases in Egypt. Data collected from climate conditions, geological maps, remote sensing imageries, field observations, and laboratory analyses were conducted and subjected to AHP to develop six indices. They included geology index (GI), topographic quality index (TQI), physical soil quality index (PSQI), chemical soil quality index (CSQI), wind erosion quality index (WEQI), and vegetation quality index (VQI). Weights derived from the AHP showed that the effective drivers of LDV in the studied area were as follows: CSQI (0.30) > PSQI (0.29) > VQI (0.17) > TQI (0.12) > GI (0.07) > WEQI (0.05). The LDV map indicated that nearly 85% of the total area was prone to moderate degradation risks, 11% was prone to high risks, while less than 1% was prone to low risks. The consistency ratio (CR) for all studied parameters and indices were less than 0.1, demonstrating the high accuracy of the AHP. The results of the cross-validation demonstrated that the performance of ordinary kriging models (spherical, exponential, and Gaussian) was suitable and reliable for predicting and mapping soil properties. Integrated use of remote sensing data, GIS, and AHP would provide an effective methodology for predicting LDV in desert oases, by which proper management strategies could be adopted to achieve sustainable food security.

scholarly journals Phenology-Based Residual Trend Analysis of MODIS-NDVI Time Series for Assessing Human-Induced Land Degradation

Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 3676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Chen ◽  
Xiangnan Liu ◽  
Chao Ding ◽  
Fang Huang
Keyword(s):  
Trend Analysis ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Practical Method ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Modis Ndvi ◽  
Daily Precipitation Data ◽  
Improved Model

Land degradation is a widespread environmental issue and an important factor in limiting sustainability. In this study, we aimed to improve the accuracy of monitoring human-induced land degradation by using phenological signal detection and residual trend analysis (RESTREND). We proposed an improved model for assessing land degradation named phenology-based RESTREND (P-RESTREND). This method quantifies the influence of precipitation on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) variation by using the bivariate linear regression between NDVI and precipitation in pre-growing season and growing season. The performances of RESTREND and P-RESTREND for discriminating land degradation caused by climate and human activities were compared based on vegetation-precipitation relationship. The test area is in Western Songnen Plain, Northeast China. It is a typical region with a large area of degraded drylands. The MODIS 8-day composite reflectance product and daily precipitation data during 2000–2015 were used. Our results showed that P-RESTREND was more effective in distinguishing different drivers of land degradation than the RESTREND. Degraded areas in the Songnen grasslands can be effectively detected by P-RESTREND. Therefore, this modified model can be regarded as a practical method for assessing human-induced land degradation.

scholarly journals A Study of Desertification Using Remote Sensing Techniques in Basra Governorate, South Iraq

2021 ◽  
pp. 912-926
Author(s):  
Fadel Abbas Zwain ◽  
Thair Thamer Al-Samarrai ◽  
Younus I. Al-Saady
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Arid Zone ◽  
Sand Dunes ◽  
Risk Index ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Landsat Images

Iraq territory as a whole and south of Iraq in particular encountered rapid desertification and signs of severe land degradation in the last decades. Both natural and anthropogenic factors are responsible for the extent of desertification. Remote sensing data and image analysis tools were employed to identify, detect, and monitor desertification in Basra governorate. Different remote sensing indicators and image indices were applied in order to better identify the desertification development in the study area, including the Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), Salinity index (SI), Top Soil Grain Size Index (GSI) , Land Surface Temperature (LST) , Land Surface Soil Moisture (LSM), and Land Degradation Risk Index (LDI) which was used for the assessment of degradation severity .Three Landsat images, acquired in 1973, 1993, and 2013, were used to evaluate the potential of using remote sensing analysis in desertification monitoring. The approach applied in this study for evaluating this phenomenon was proven to be an effective tool for the recognition of areas at risk of desertification. The results indicated that the arid zone of Basra governorate encounters substantial changes in the environment, such as decreasing surface water, degradation of agricultural lands (as palm orchards and crops), and deterioration of marshlands. Additional changes include increased salinization with the creeping of sand dunes to agricultural areas, as well as the impacts of oil fields and other facilities.

scholarly journals Dynamics of human-induced lakes and their impact on land surface temperature in Toshka Depression, Western Desert, Egypt

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasha Abou Samra
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Land Surface Temperature ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Western Desert ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Land Use Land Cover

Abstract Land surface temperature (LST) is a significant environmental variable that is appreciably influenced by land use /land cover changes. The main goal of this research was to quantify the impacts of land use/land cover change (LULC) from the drying of Toshka Lakes on LST by remote sensing and GIS techniques. Landsat series TM and OLI satellite images were used to estimate LST from 2001 to 2019. Automated Water Extraction Index (AWEI) was applied to extract water bodies from the research area. Optimized Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (OSAVI) was utilized to predict the reclaimed land in the Toshka region until 2019. The results indicated a decrease in the lakes by about 1517.79 km2 with an average increase in LST by about 25.02 °C between 2001 and 2019. It was observed that the dried areas of the lakes were converted to bare soil and are covered by salt crusts. The results indicated that the land use change was a significant driver for the increased LST. The mean annual LST increased considerably by 0.6 °C/y between 2001 and 2019. A strong negative correlation between LST and Toshka Lakes area (R-square = 0.98) estimated from regression analysis implied that Toshka Lakes drying considerably affected the microclimate of the study area. Severe drought conditions, soil degradation, and many environmental issues were predicted due to the rise of LST in the research area. There is an urgent need to develop favorable strategies for sustainable environmental management in the Toshka region.

scholarly journals Identification of Surface Water Storing Sites Using Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 91-100
Author(s):  
Belete Berhanu ◽  
Ethiopia Bisrat
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Water Shortage ◽  
Sample Volume ◽  
Runoff Generation ◽  
Topographic Wetness Index ◽  
Wetness Index

Ethiopia is endowed with water and has a high runoff generation area compared to many countries, but the total stored water only goes up to approximately 36BCM. The problem of water shortage in Ethiopia emanates from the seasonality of rainfall and the lack of infrastructure for storage to capture excess runoff during flood seasons. Based on this premise, a method for a syndicate use of topography, land use and vegetation was applied to locate potential surface water storing sites. The steady-state Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) was used to represent the spatial distribution of water flow and water stagnating across the study area and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to detect surface water through multispectral analysis. With this approach, a number of water storing sites were identified in three categories: primary sources (water bodies based), secondary sources (Swampy/wetland based) and tertiary sources (the land based). A sample volume analysis for the 120354 water storing sites in category two, gives a 44.92BCM potential storing capacity with average depth of 4 m that improves the annual storage capacity of the country to 81BCM (8.6 % of annual renewable water sources). Finally, the research confirmed the TWI and NDVI based approach for water storing sites works without huge and complicated earth work; it is cost effective and has the potential of solving complex water resource challenges through spatial representation of water resource systems. Furthermore, the application of remote sensing captures temporal diversity and includes repetitive archives of data, enabling the monitoring of areas, even those that are inaccessible, at regular intervals.

Land change effects on ecosystem degradation across Nigerian agro-ecological zones from 1975 through 2020

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicia Akinyemi ◽  
Chinwe Ifejika Speranza
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Land Change ◽  
Land Area ◽  
Degraded Land ◽  
Vegetation Productivity ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Settlement Areas ◽  
Agro Ecological Zones

<p>Land system change is implicated in many sustainability challenges as its alteration impacts ecosystems and exacerbate the vulnerability of communities, particularly where livelihoods are largely dependent on natural resources. The production of a land use-cover map for year 2020 extended the time-series for assessing land use-cover dynamics over a period of 45 years (1975-2020). The case of Nigeria is examined as the land area encompass several agro-ecological zones. The classification scheme countries utilise for estimating Land Degradation Neutrality baseline and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goal 15.3.1 indicator (proportion of degraded land over total land area) was used, based on seven land use-cover classes (tree-covered area, grassland, cropland, wetland, artificial surface area, otherland, and waterbody). Severity of land degradation, computed as changes in vegetation productivity using the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), as well as changes in ecosystem service values were examined across the different land use-cover types, in areas of change and persistence. Land degradation is most severe in settlement areas and wetlands with declining trends in 34% of settlement areas and 29% in wetlands respectively. About 19% of tree-covered areas experienced increasing trends. In some areas of land use-cover persistence, vegetation productivity declined despite no land change occurring. For example, vegetation productivity declined in about 35% and 9% of persistent wetlands and otherland respectively between 2000 and 2020, whereas there was improvement in 22% of persistent grasslands, 18% of persistent otherlands and 12% of persistent croplands. In land change areas, about 12% and 8% of wetlands and tree-covered areas had declining vegetation trends respectively, whereas it improved the most in croplands (20%), and grasslands (16%). With some wetland, cropland and otherland areas degrading the most, protecting these critical ecosystems is required to sustain their functions and services. The finding that vegetation productivity may decline in areas of persistence underscores the importance of intersecting land use-cover (in terms of persistence and change) with vegetation productivity to identify pathways for enhancing ecological sustainability.</p>

Assessment of the State of the Territories of Closed Waste Disposal Facilities by Vegetation Indices

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 30-37
Author(s):  
N.N. Sliusar ◽  
A.P. Belousova ◽  
G.M. Batrakova ◽  
R.D. Garifzyanov ◽  
M. Huber-Humer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Waste Disposal ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Vegetation Indices ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
The State ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
The Earth

The possibilities of using remote sensing of the Earth data to assess the formation of phytocenoses at reclaimed dumps and landfills are presented. The objects of study are landfills and dumps in the Perm Territory, which differed from each other in the types and timing of reclamation work. The state of the vegetation cover on the reclaimed and self-overgrowing objects was compared with the reference plots with naturally formed herbage of zonal meadow vegetation. The process of reclamation of the territory of closed landfills was assessed by the presence and homogeneity of the vegetation layer and by the values of the vegetation index NDVI. To identify the dynamics of changes in the vegetation cover, we used multi-temporal satellite images from the open resources of Google Earth and images in the visible and infrared ranges of the Landsat-5/TM and Landsat-8/OLI satellites. It is shown that the data of remote sensing of the Earth, in particular the analysis of vegetation indices, can be used to assess the dynamics of overgrowing of territories of reclaimed waste disposal facilities, as well as an additional and cost-effective method for monitoring the restoration of previously disturbed territories.

Incorporating vegetation trends to the MEDALUS-ESA approach for assessing environmental sensitivity at the national scale: the case of Kenya

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elias Symeonakis ◽  
Eva Arnau-Rosalén ◽  
Antony Wandera ◽  
Thomas Higginbottom ◽  
Bradley Cain
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Environmental Sensitivity ◽  
National Scale ◽  
Livestock Density ◽  
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Sub Saharan

<p>Land degradation is one of the main causes of loss of productivity and ecosystem services worldwide. According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), sub-Saharan Africa is on a path to experiencing some of the strongest increases in pressures on land and land-based resources than any other continent. Assessing the sensitivity of sub-Saharan African countries to land degradation is, therefore, important for identifying areas of concern, setting a baseline for national land degradation neutrality targets, and for the prioritisation of mitigation measures. The widely used MEDALUS-ESA framework is employed here to assess the sensitivity of Kenya to land degradation using the year 2010 as a baseline. We modify the MEDALUS-ESA approach by adding two important variables that are closely linked with observed land degradation in Kenya: soil erosion and livestock density. Altogether, 16 indicators are estimated from existing global-to-national-scale land cover, vegetation (MCD12Q1, MOD44B), soil (ISRIC African SoilGrids), elevation (SRTM), population and livestock density data, divided into 4 main environmental quality indices (vegetation, soil, climate and management). In order to address the dynamic nature of the land degradation process, we incorporate two additional vegetation indicators: the statistically significant (p≤ 0.05) trend over the last three decades in the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Rain Use Efficiency (RUE; estimated using the GIMMS3g dense NDVI dense time-series and precipitation from CHIRPS). Our results show that ~40% of the country is in critical and ~48% in fragile condition, with respect to environmental sensitivity. Our approach is successful in identifying areas of known long-term degradation, for example the rangelands South and East of Nairobi (e.g. Machacos and Kitengela) and the parts of the northern rangelands (e.g. Yamicha and eastern parts of Isiolo District). It is also successful in mapping the areas of least concern, including some of the major protected areas(e.g. Tsavo National Parks, Meru National Park and the Masai Mara National Reserve) and forested areas (Mt Kenya and the Aberdares). Our modification of the MEDALUS-ESA is an important tool that can be employed at the national scale using free and open-access data to assess environmental sensitivity and assist in the UNCCD efforts to successfully define land degradation neutrality targets.</p>

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