Identification and mapping of soil erosion areas in the Blue Nile-Eastern Sudan using multispectral ASTER and MODIS satellite data and the SRTM elevation model
Abstract. This paper is part of a set of studies to evaluate the spatial and temporal variability of soil water in terms of natural as well as land-use changes as fundamental factors for vegetation regeneration in arid ecosystems in the Blue Nile-Sudan. The specific aim is to indicate the spatial distribution of soil erosion caused by the rains of 2006. The current study is conducted to determine whether automatic classification of multispectral Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) imagery could accurately discriminate erosion gullies. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is used to orthoproject ASTER data. A maximum likelihood classifier is trained with four classes, Gullies, Flat_Land, Mountains and Water and applied to images from March and December 2006. Validation is done with field data from December and January 2006/2007, and using drainage network analysis of SRTM digital elevation model. The results allow the identification of erosion gullies and subsequent estimation of eroded area. Consequently the results were up-scaled using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images of the same dates. Because the selected study site is representative of the wider Blue Nile province, it is expected that the approach presented could be applied to larger areas.