Application of remote sensing and GIS in the study of environmental sensitivity to desertification: a case study in Basrah Province, southern part of Iraq

摘要

This research utilizes the integrated remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) in the southern part of Iraq (Basrah Province was taken as a case) to assess the environmentally sensitivity area to desertification. The thematic layers of soil, vegetation, climate, and extent of sand movement are the main data required for estimating the desertification sensitivity index. These layers were extracted and manipulated from the available topographic map data, geologic map, satellite image (TM in 1990 and ETM+ in 2003), and field survey data analyses. Spatial analyst function in ArcGIS 9.3 software was used for matching the thematic layers and assessing the desertification index. The obtained data on change detection reveal that the area of active sand movement has increased from 4,118.3 to 4,558.1 km2, and the highly sensitive areas for sandy desertification are located in the western–southern parts of Basrah Province, representing 61.9% of the area belonging to class 5. The rest of the southern parts of the study location exhibit moderately sensitive areas for desertification, representing 18.9% of the total area belonging to class 4. The northern parts of the study location are characterized by a very low and low sensitivity for desertification, representing 8.5% and 10.7% of the total area, respectively. It is recommended that there is a need to establish a professional arid environment center, which can be coordinated with government sectors and different universities in southern part of Iraq to solve various environmental problems.