scholarly journals Vegetation Trends, Drought Severity and Land Use-Land Cover Change during the Growing Season in Semi-Arid Contexts

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 836
Author(s):  
Felicia O. Akinyemi
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Land Use Land Cover ◽  
Land Change ◽  
Vegetation Productivity ◽  
Growing Seasons ◽  
Semi Arid

Drought severity and impact assessments are necessary to effectively monitor droughts in semi-arid contexts. However, little is known about the influence land use-land cover (LULC) has—in terms of the differences in annual sizes and configurations—on drought effects. Coupling remote sensing and Geographic Information System techniques, drought evolution was assessed and mapped. During the growing season, drought severity and the effects on LULC were examined and whether these differed between areas of land change and persistence. This study used areas of economic importance to Botswana as case studies. Vegetation Condition Index, derived from Normalised Difference Vegetation Index time series for the growing seasons (2000–2018 in comparison to 2020–2021), was used to assess droughts for 17 constituencies (Botswana’s fourth administrative level) in the Central District of Botswana. Further analyses by LULC types and land change highlighted the vulnerability of both human and natural systems to drought. Identified drought periods in the time series correspond to declared drought years by the Botswana government. Drought severity (extreme, severe, moderate and mild) and the percentage of land areas affected varied in both space and time. The growing seasons of 2002–2003, 2003–2004 and 2015–2016 were the most drought-stricken in the entire time series, coinciding with the El Niño southern oscillation (ENSO). The lower-than-normal vegetation productivity during these growing seasons was evident from the analysis. With the above-normal vegetation productivity in the ongoing season (2020–2021), the results suggest the reversal of the negative vegetation trends observed in the preceding growing seasons. However, the extent of this reversal cannot be confidently ascertained with the season still ongoing. Relating drought severity and intensities to LULC and change in selected drought years revealed that most lands affected by extreme and severe drought (in descending order) were in tree-covered areas (forests and woodlands), grassland/rangelands and croplands. These LULC types were the most affected as extreme drought intersected vegetation productivity decline. The most impacted constituencies according to drought severity and the number of drought events were Mahalapye west (eight), Mahalapye east (seven) and Boteti west (seven). Other constituencies experienced between six and two drought events of varying durations throughout the time series. Since not all constituencies were affected similarly during declared droughts, studies such as this contribute to devising appropriate context-specific responses aimed at minimising drought impacts on social-ecological systems. The methodology utilised can apply to other drylands where climatic and socioeconomic contexts are similar to those of Botswana.

scholarly journals Characterizing Land Use/Land Cover Using Multi-Sensor Time Series from the Perspective of Land Surface Phenology

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 1677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lan H. Nguyen ◽  
Geoffrey M. Henebry
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Quadratic Model ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Land Use Land Cover ◽  
Land Surface Phenology ◽  
Land Cover Map ◽  
Phenological Metrics

Due to a rapid increase in accessible Earth observation data coupled with high computing and storage capabilities, multiple efforts over the past few years have aimed to map land use/land cover using image time series with promising outcomes. Here, we evaluate the comparative performance of alternative land cover classifications generated by using only (1) phenological metrics derived from either of two land surface phenology models, or (2) a suite of spectral band percentiles and normalized ratios (spectral variables), or (3) a combination of phenological metrics and spectral variables. First, several annual time series of remotely sensed data were assembled: Accumulated growing degree-days (AGDD) from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 8-day land surface temperature products, 2-band Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI2), and the spectral variables from the Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2, as well as from the U.S. Landsat Analysis Ready Data surface reflectance products. Then, at each pixel, EVI2 time series were fitted using two different land surface phenology models: The Convex Quadratic model (CxQ), in which EVI2 = f(AGDD) and the Hybrid Piecewise Logistic Model (HPLM), in which EVI2 = f(day of year). Phenometrics and spectral variables were submitted separately and together to Random Forest Classifiers (RFC) to depict land use/land cover in Roberts County, South Dakota. HPLM RFC models showed slightly better accuracy than CxQ RFC models (about 1% relative higher in overall accuracy). Compared to phenometrically-based RFC models, spectrally-based RFC models yielded more accurate land cover maps, especially for non-crop cover types. However, the RFC models built from spectral variables could not accurately classify the wheat class, which contained mostly spring wheat with some fields in durum or winter varieties. The most accurate RFC models were obtained when using both phenometrics and spectral variables as inputs. The combined-variable RFC models overcame weaknesses of both phenometrically-based classification (low accuracy for non-vegetated covers) and spectrally-based classification (low accuracy for wheat). The analysis of important variables indicated that land cover classification for this study area was strongly driven by variables related to the initial green-up phase of seasonal growth and maximum fitted EVI2. For a deeper evaluation of RFC performance, RFC classifications were also executed with several alternative sampling scenarios, including different spatiotemporal filters to improve accuracy of sample pools and different sample sizes. Results indicated that a sample pool with less filtering yielded the most accurate predicted land cover map and a stratified random sample dataset covering approximately 0.25% or more of the study area were required to achieve an accurate land cover map. In case of data scarcity, a smaller dataset might be acceptable, but should not smaller than 0.05% of the study area.

scholarly journals LAND USE/LAND COVER CHANGES IN SEMI-ARID MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE IN SOUTHERN INDIA: A GEOINFORMATICS BASED MARKOV CHAIN APPROACH

2017 ◽  
Vol XLII-1/W1 ◽  
pp. 231-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Rahaman ◽  
S. Aruchamy ◽  
K. Balasubramani ◽  
R. Jegankumar
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Southern India ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Land Use Land Cover ◽  
Mountain Landscape ◽  
Semi Arid

Nowadays land use/ land cover in mountain landscape is in critical condition; it leads to high risky and uncertain environments. These areas are facing multiple stresses including degradation of land resources; vagaries of climate and depletion of water resources continuously affect land use practices and livelihoods. To understand the Land use/Land cover (Lu/Lc) changes in a semi-arid mountain landscape, Kallar watershed of Bhavani basin, in southern India has been chosen. Most of the hilly part in the study area covers with forest, plantation, orchards and vegetables and which are highly affected by severe soil erosion, landslide, frequent rainfall failures and associated drought. The foothill regions are mainly utilized for agriculture practices; due to water scarcity and meagre income, the productive agriculture lands are converted into settlement plots and wasteland. Hence, land use/land cover change deduction; a stochastic processed based method is indispensable for future prediction. For identification of land use/land cover, and vegetation changes, Landsat TM, ETM (1995, 2005) and IRS P6- LISS IV (2015) images were used. Through CAMarkov chain analysis, Lu/Lc changes in past three decades (1995, 2005, and 2015) were identified and projected for (2020 and 2025); Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were used to find the vegetation changes. The result shows that, maximum changes occur in the plantation and slight changes found in forest cover in the hilly terrain. In foothill areas, agriculture lands were decreased while wastelands and settlement plots were increased. The outcome of the results helps to farmer and policy makers to draw optimal lands use planning and better management strategies for sustainable development of natural resources.

scholarly journals Spatio-temporal analysis of land use/land cover dynamics in Sokoto Metropolis using multi-temporal satellite data and Land Change Modeller

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 306
Author(s):  
Murtala Dangulla ◽  
Latifah Abd Manaf ◽  
Firuz Ramli Mohammad
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Land Use Land Cover ◽  
Land Change ◽  
Landsat Images ◽  
Green Area ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Green Areas

Urbanization is currently one of the most pressing environmental issues which cuts across all countries at unprecedented rates and intensities, with far reaching consequences on ecosystems, biodiversity and human wellbeing. This paper assessed urban expansion and land use/land cover changes in Sokoto metropolis, North-western Nigeria using Remote Sensing and GIS. Landsat images of 1990, 1999 and 2015 were processed for LULC classification and change detection using the Maximum Likelihood Classification, Post Classification Comparison techniques and the Land Change Modeler. The classification revealed five broad land cover classes which include Built-up Area, Farmland, Green Area, Open Space and Wetland/Water. The Built-up and Green areas continuously increased while Farmland and Open space decreased throughout the study period. The metropolis expanded radially at a faster rate between 1999 and 2015 with the highest rate of increase (1890.5ha per annum) recorded in the Built-up Area. This implies a doubling time of approximately 30 years at the expense of Farmland and Open space which may be completely exhausted in 40 and 29 years respectively. Infrastructural provision should thus align with the rate and direction of growth and where the Green Area is converted, replacement should be made to ensure continued supply and stability of the numerous ecosystem services green areas provide.

Land use/land cover (LULC) classification with MODIS time series data and validation in the Amur River Basin

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaishan Song ◽  
Zongmin Wang ◽  
Qingfeng Liu ◽  
Dianwei Liu ◽  
V. V. Ermoshin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Amur River Basin ◽  
Land Use Land Cover ◽  
Amur River ◽  
The Amur River
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