Remote sensing of land use/cover changes and its effect on wind erosion potential in southern Iran

Abstract

Wind erosion is a complex process influenced by different factors. Most of these factors are stable over time, but land use/cover and land management practices are changing gradually. Therefore, this research investigates the impact of changing land use/cover and land management on wind erosion potential in southern Iran. We used remote sensing data (Landsat ETM+ and Landsat 8 imagery of 2004 and 2013) for land use/cover mapping and employed the Iran Research Institute of Forest and Rangeland (IRIFR) method to estimate changes in wind erosion potential. For an optimal mapping, the performance of different classification algorithms and input layers was tested. The amount of changes in wind erosion and land use/cover were quantified using cross-tabulation between the two years. To discriminate land use/cover related to wind erosion, the best results were obtained by combining the original spectral bands with synthetic bands and using Maximum Likelihood classification algorithm (Kappa Coefficient of 0.8 and 0.9 for Landsat ETM+ and Landsat 8, respectively). The IRIFR modelling results indicate that the wind erosion potential has increased over the last decade. The areas with a very high sediment yield potential have increased, whereas the areas with a low, medium, and high sediment yield potential decreased. The area with a very low sediment yield potential have remained constant. When comparing the change in erosion potential with land use/cover change, it is evident that soil erosion potential has increased mostly in accordance with the increase of the area of agricultural practices. The conversion of rangeland to agricultural land was a major land-use change which lead to more agricultural practices and associated soil loss. Moreover, results indicate an increase in sandification in the study area which is also a clear evidence of increasing in soil erosion.

Wind erosion as a driver for transport of light density microplastics

“…Generally, all regions of Fars province are considered arid or semi-arid according to De Martonne aridity index (Nafarzadegan et al, 2012). Actually, most of these areas are considered to be the critical wind erosion regions in this Province (Rezaei et al, 2016). Drought is a common phenomenon in Fars province (Tehrani et al, 2016) due to low annual precipitation, varying between 100 mm to 400 mm (Nafarzadegan et al, 2012).…”

Soil erosion modelling: A global review and statistical analysis

“…This indicates that wind erosion may be a possible major soil erosion agent. Quantitative assessments of wind erosion over large areas in China and Iran reported in GASEMT show average soil-erosion values well above 10 Mg ha -1 yr -1 (Jabbar et al, 2006;Rezaei et al, 2016;Zhang and McBean, 2016). In addition, the 37% of the GASEMT records reporting wind and tillage erosion predicted high soil erosion rates (x̃ = 10.2 Mg ha −1 yr −1 ) that may locally represent a threat to agriculture productivity and the sustainability of the Earth's natural resources.…”

Soil erosion modelling: A global review and statistical analysis

“…Their estimates suggest soil erosion values can be particularly high for the arable land of Denmark (~3 Mg ha −1 yr −1 ), the Netherlands (2.6 Mg ha −1 yr −1 ), and the United Kingdom (~1 Mg ha −1 yr −1 ); indicating that wind erosion may be a major agent of soil erosion in localised areas. Quantitative assessments of wind erosion over large areas in China and Iran reported in GASEMT show average soil-erosion values well above 10 Mg ha −1 yr −1 ( Jabbar et al, 2006 ; Rezaei et al, 2016 ; Zhang and McBean, 2016 ). In addition, the 37% of the GASEMT records reporting wind and tillage erosion predicted high soil erosion rates (x̃ = 10.2 Mg ha −1 yr −1 ) that may locally represent a threat to agricultural productivity and the sustainability of the Earth's natural resources.…”