Application of MODIS Land Products to Assessment of Land Degradation of Alpine Rangeland in Northern India with Limited Ground-Based Information

Remote Sensing

Masahiro Tasumi¹  Kiyomi Hirakawa¹  Nobumi Hasegawa¹  Aya Nishiwaki¹ 

[1] Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, 1-1, Gakuen Kibanadai-Nishi, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan; E-Mails:

关键词: overgrazing;    alpine rangeland;    Northern India;    satellite observation;    MODIS;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs6109260

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Land degradation of alpine rangeland in Dachigam National Park, Northern India, was evaluated in this study using MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land products. The park has been used by a variety of livestock holders. With increasing numbers of livestock, the managers and users of the park are apprehensive about degradation of the grazing land. However, owing to weak infrastructure for scientific and statistical data collection and sociopolitical restrictions in the region, a lack of quality ground-based weather, vegetation, and livestock statistical data had prevented scientific assessment. Under these circumstances, the present study aimed to assess the rangeland environment and its degradation using MODIS vegetation, snow, and evapotranspiration products as primary input data for assessment. The result of the analysis indicated that soil water content and the timing of snowmelt play an important role in grass production in the area. Additionally, the possibility of land degradation in heavily-grazed rangeland was indicated via a multiple regression analysis at a decadal timescale, whereas weather conditions, such as rainfall and snow cover, primarily explained year-by-year differences in grass production. Although statistical uncertainties remain in the results derived in this study, the satellite-based data and the analyses will promote understanding of the rangeland environment and suggest the potential for unsustainable land management based on statistical probability. This study provides an important initial evaluation of alpine rangeland, for which ground-based information is limited.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland