The book:

Land degradation due to environmental hazards or man-made malpractice coupled with successive drought episodes are major problems reducing the capacity of land to produce and regenerate spontaneously in the fragile arid zone of North Kordofan State. Traditional shifting cultivation together with concentration of livestock around perennial sources of water cause excessive utilization of forage plants and alter vegetation composition which ultimately contributes to vegetation and land degradation, sand encroachment and invasion by mobile dunes in the study area. The research work contributes to close the gap in technical knowledge with regard to application and adoption of spectral mixture analysis (SMA) and multi-temporal remote sensing to detect and map desertification processes  as highlighted in a semi-arid region of North Kordofan. Three Landsat MSS, TM and ETM+ scenes were selected. Linear Mixture Model (LMM) and Principle Component Analysis (PCA) were conducted. Eolain Mapping Index (EMI) was also used to map the areas that are frequently subjected to wind erosion hazard. Interpretations of ancillary data and field observations as well as of statistical data were used to verify the role of human impacts on temporal change of both vegetation cover and sand soil. In this way of thinking, the current study tried to merge remote sensing, climatic and field data to enlighten the nature and consequences of desertification processes in the targeted area. This linkage builds the logical framework for appropriate thematic analysis of the research work as undertaken by the author.

 

The author:
Manal Awad Khiry was born in 1970 in Karema, Northern State- Sudan. She has obtained her B.Sc. at the Faculty of Forestry, University of Khartoum in 1997, where she has been working as teaching assistant since then. She has graduated with a M.Sc. (2003) and a PhD (2007) from  the Faculty of Forestry, Hydro- and Geosciences, University of Dresden (Germany). Ms. Khiry has distinguished herself as a conscientious and energetic pioneer in the field of remote sensing and GIS in the Sudan. She has improved her teaching and practical research skills as an active member of staff of the Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. She participated in several international workshops and scientific forums. This assists her greatly to spread her excitement and to share her talents with others. Besides remote sensing and GIS as major fields of interest, Ms. Khiry has evolved into a key personality with regard to land cover and land use change analysis and regional management in the Sudan.

 

Der Herausgeber:

Prof. Dr. techn. habil. Elmar Csaplovics leitet den Lehrstuhl Geofernerkundung am Institut für Photogrammetrie und Fernerkundung der Technischen Universitaet Dresden

Kontakt:
TU Dresden, Institut für Photogrammetrie und Fernerkundung, Helmholtzstraße 10, 01062 Dresden
http://www.tu-dresden.de/ipf/

Prof. Dr. Elmar Csaplovics: "In loser Folge sollen in dieser Schriftenreihe wissenschaftliche Arbeiten, die am Lehrstuhl für Fernerkundung bearbeitet und betreut werden, in ansprechender Form veröffentlicht werden. Wir glauben, dass dadurch das Spektrum von Literatur zum Themenkreis projektorientierter angewandter fernerkundlicher Forschung nachhaltig bereichert werden kann und wünschen uns demgemäß eine kritikfreudige Schar von Leserinnen und Lesern." >Professur Geofernerkundung

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface V
Table of contents VII
List of Tables XIII
List of Figures XIV
List of Acronyms XVII

PART 1:
DESERTIFICATION PROCESSES AND STUDY AREA

CHAPTER1: Desertification in arid and semi-arid lands 3
1.1 Introduction 3
1.2 Desertification in arid lands in Sudan 4
1.3 Problem statement and rationale for the study 7
1.4 Objectives of study 9

CHAPTER 2: Introduction to study area 11
2.1 Location 11
2.2 Topography and drainage 12
2.3 Climate 12
2.4 Soils 13
2.5 Vegetation 14
2.6 Water resources 17
2.7 Patterns of land use 19
2.8 Drought periods in the study area 20

PART II:
SPECRAL MIXTUER ANALYSIS AND
DESERTIFICATION STUDIES IN ARID AND SEMI-ARID LANDS 23

CHAPTER 3: Theoretical background of Spectral Mixture Analysis (SMA)
3.1 Overview 25
3.2 Spectral characteristics of features on the earth surface 251
3.3 Spectral Mixture Analysis (SMA) 28
3.4 SMA for monitoring arid and semi-arid regions 32
3.5 Multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing in SMA 34
3.6 Capabilities of SMA compared to other classification methods 36

CHAPTER 4: Views of desertification process in arid and semi-arid lands 39
4.1 Introduction 39
4.1.1 Causes and consequences of desertification in arid lands 40
4.1.2 Desertification and climate 41
4.1.3 Desertification and human interactions 42

PART III:
RESEARCH APPROCHES AND MODELS ADOPTED FOR STUDY 45

CHAPTER 5: Research methodologies 47
5.1 Overview 47
5.2 Data acquisition and preprocessing 47
5.3 Image processing 55
5.4 Spectral Mixture Analysis (SMA) 56
5.5 Ratio analysis 58
5.6 Principal Component Analysis (PCA) 59
5.7 Eolain Mapping Index (EMI) 62
5.8 Changes detection analysis 63
5.8.1 Change in fraction image 63
5.8.2 Change Vector Analysis (CVA) 64
5.9 Statistical analysis 66
5.10 Field observations 66
5.11 Ancillary data 69

PART IV:
PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS 71

CHAPTER 6: Interpretation and analysis of fractions images 73
6.1 General overview 73
6.2 Visualization of fractions images 73
6.2.1 Soil fractions 74
6.2.1.1 Sand fraction 74
6.2.1.2 Salt soil fraction 81
6.2.2 Vegetation fraction 85
6.2.3 Shade fraction 87
6.4 Visualization of the EMI images 93
6.5 Change detection analysis 97
6.5.1 Endmembers fraction change detection 97
6.5.1.1 Vegetation fraction change 97
6.5.1.2 Sand fraction change 98
6.5.2 Change Vector Analysis (CVA) 99
6.5.2.1 CVA of period 1976 to 1988 100
6.5.2.2 CVA of period 1988 to 2003 102
6.6 Discussion of dynamics of change 103
6.6.1 Dynamics of change during period 1976-1988 103
6.6.2 Dynamics of change during period 1988-2003 109
6.7 Overall evaluation of SMA in mapping desertification processes in the study area 114
6.8 Comparison between CVA and SMA 118
6.9 Uncertainty of SMA 121

CHAPTER 7: Conclusions of findings and recommendations 123
7.1 Conclusions 123
7.2 Limitations of the study 125
7.3 Recommendations 125
7.4 Further studies 127

References 129
Appendices 139