Monitoring desertification risk with an index integrating climatic and remotely-sensed data an example from the coastal area of Turkey

摘要

In this paper a desertification risk index (DRI) based on the integration of climatic data and the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), obtained from National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration advance very high-resolution radiometer (NOAA-AVHRR) images, is discussed at the light of the aridity index and some eco-physiological parameters. The good correlation between DRI, the aridity index and the eco-physiological parameters suggests that DRI could be useful to measure the desertification risk. One advantage of DRI is that, with the help of a geographic information system (GIS), DRI maps can be easily obtained in short time and at relatively low costs.