land and soil degradation assessments in mediterranean europe · land and soil degradation...

Remote Sensing Department

2nd GMES Forum, 14-16 January 2003, ESA/ESTEC Nordwijk

JOACHIM HILL

Land and Soil Degradation Assessments in Mediterranean EuropeLand and Soil Degradation Assessments in Mediterranean Europe



“Desertification is land degradation in arid, semiarid and dry-subhumid areas resultingmainly from adverse human impact”

UNEP (1991)

“Desertification is land degradation in arid, semiarid and dry-subhumid areas resultingfrom climatic variations and human activities”

Convention on Desertification (Paris, 1994)

“Desertification, revealed by drought, iscaused by human activities in which thecarrying capacity of land is exceeded; itproceeds by exacerbated natural or man-induced mechanisms, and is made manifest by intricate steps of vegetation and soildeterioration ...“ Monique Mainguet (1994)

Land Degradation and Desertification ...



Land Degradation involves Complex Interactions ...

DG Research: > 10 Years of dedicated research (FP 3, 4 & 5) MEDALUS, DeMon, EFEDA, Archeomedes, GeoRange ...

Climatic Factors

Drought

Aridity

Fires

Torrential Rainfall

Soil and VegetationLoss

Human Factors

Mismanagement and/orOverexploitation of Resources

Desertification

GeomorphologicalFactors

PopulationPressure

from Perez-Trejo, 1994

Human Population

RenewableNatural

Resources

DisturbanceClimateDemographyMarketTechnology

reversible?Y

DesertificationLand Degradation

N

overexplotation

Puigdefabregas & Mendizabal, in press

Currentvs.RelictProcesses

Currentvs.RelictProcesses



Soil and Vegetation Loss ...Soil and Vegetation Loss ...

Soil ErosionSoil Erosion

Modelling Soil Erosion = Modelling Degradation Processes …Modelling Soil Erosion = Modelling Degradation Processes …

First attempts to produce regional assessments of soil erosion riskin Southern Eruope date back to the early nineties (CORINE)First attempts to produce regional assessments of soil erosion riskin Southern Eruope date back to the early nineties (CORINE)

which is a natural process ...but becomes a problem when the natural rate is significantly increasedwhich is a natural process ...but becomes a problem when the natural rate is significantly increased



CORINE soil erosion risk and important land resources in thesouthern regions of the European Community

1992, EUR 13233 EN

Factorial Scoring

implies the problem of assigningequal importance to the factorsunless some weighting withrealistic weights is applied ...

results in qualitative classes theinterpretation of which can bedifficult ...



CORINE soil erosion risk and importantland resources in the southern regionsof the European Community

Potential and Actual SoilErosion Risk

and Land Quality ...



The Availability of Input Data and Information Layers ...

... imposes an additional problem which is of course notunique to expert-basedapproaches but also affectsmodel-based methods.

CORINE soil erosion risk and importantland resources in the southern regionsof the European Community



Coordinated Data CollectionProgrammes, Scientific Topic Centers and Agencies, Workshops ...

Soil Geographical Data Base of Europe at Scale 1:1,000,000

CORINE Land Cover Europe

EUROPEAN SOIL BUREAU

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

The Data Issue

Digital Topographic Data

GTOPO30



Actual and Potential SoilErosion Risk based on theUSLE

Grimm, Jones & Montanarella, 2001 (EUR 19939 EN)

PESERAPan-European SoilErosion RiskAssessment

Kirkby & King, 1998

Land Use & Vegetation Cover from RS Systems (NOAA-VHRR, VEGETATION)

Model-basedApproaches

http://pesera.jrc.it



Environmental Change is defined by its landscapeconsequences, and it is these consequences that haveto be detected and quantified using space data

Environmental Change can only be inferred fromremote measurements of the spatial and temporal dynamics of landscape attributes

R.D. Graetz (1996)

Environmental Change is defined by its landscapeconsequences, and it is these consequences that haveto be detected and quantified using space data

Environmental Change can only be inferred fromremote measurements of the spatial and temporal dynamics of landscape attributes

R.D. Graetz (1996)

Satellite Observations, an Issue of Scale ...



Satellite-based Land Cover MappingOriginal Map Scale 1:50,000

Hill (1993)

Extract TrainingPixels

Multi-SpectralImagery

Determine DiscriminantFunctions

Image Labeling

Alternative Concepts and Simple Models:

Spectral Mixture Analysis

EM • X = DN

X = DN • EM-1

Abundance Channels:X1: % cropX2: % dark soilX3: % light soil

Spectral Endmembers:EM1: cropEM2: dark soilEM3: light soil



Satellite-based Vegetation Cover Assessments

Landsat-TM Southern Ardèche, France

DeMon-I

a

b

5-endmember unmixing

variable backgroundendmember unmixing

Hill et al. (1995)

green vegetation



Soils

Marls Limestone0 25 50 75 100

0

0

Ternary Diagramof

Mixing Proportions

GER-SIRIS measurements,sampled to Landsat-TM spectral bands

Soil ConditionsIIIIIIIVaIVb

100

25

50

75

100

75

50

25

Satellite-based Soil Degradation Mapping

Spectral MixtureAnalysis

Hill et al. (1995)

Landsat-TM Southern Ardèche, France

DeMon-I



Soil Degradation goes beyond Soil Erosion ...Soil Degradation goes beyond Soil Erosion ...Land Degradation involves more thanSoil Degradation ...Land Degradation involves more thanSoil Degradation ...



Terrain Attributes

Interpolate

P

Field Survey

E0

k

ksample sites

fsample sites

k – f0model

f0 f / f0 RC0

fg

Climate Records

Sample of undisturbed

sitesfs

LithologicalStratification

Erosion Modelling

Soil Condition

Soil Properties

HyperspectralRemote Sensing

RUE = Ea / PFinal Assessment

LDS

The Concept of EcologicalOptimality

Assessment of Dryland Degradation through Site Water Balance Modelling

modified after Boer, 1999



Canada Hermosa, SE-Spain: Land Surface Properties - Vegetation

HyMap (June 2000)

Original Calibrated Reflectance DataRGB: 860 - 1650 – 660 µm

HyMap-derived 3-endmember fraction composite

SMA

Green VegetationGreen Vegetation

Dry VegetationDry Vegetation



SMA-derived Carbonate Bedrock Abundanceas Erosion Indicator

75-85 %

> 85 % 0.00 0.40 0.80 1.20 1.60 %

Modelled Corg [%]

HyMap-based SoilOrganic CarbonConcentration

HyMap (June 2000)

Canada Hermosa, SE-Spain: Land Surface Properties - Soil



The Impact of 20 Years Intensified Grazing on Mountainous Ecosystems

The Crete Case Study, Greece

Free Grazing within theBoundaries of Local Communities

Average Stocking Densitiesbeyond Local Carrying Capacities(1/ha/yr)

Transport and Delivery of Complementary Food Required

1960 1970 1980 1990 20000

100000

200000

300000

400000 Goats

Sheep

ZIOGANAS et al. (1998)DUBOST (1998)

DeMon-II



1972

1989

1991

1993

1994

1997

Satellite-EstimatedVegetation Abundance

year

Veg.[%]

y = a + b*x

Spatio-temporal Indicators



Range Degradation in the Psiloriti Mountains

Trend Analysis of a Combined Time-Series of Landsat-MSS and

TM-Data (1977-1996)Substantial Degradationslope < - 1.5

Intermediate Degradationslope - 0.5 to -1.5

Moderate Degradationslope - 0.2 to -0.5

3920000

3900000

3910000

3890000

860000850000840000

“In 1847 Raulin records 666,000 sheep and 239,000 goats, rather fewer than there are supposed to be now - but then they were taxed, now they are subsidised, and nobody than a shepherd knows how many animals are there.”

(Rackham and Moody, 1996:163)



negative

positive

indifferent

unknown

GIS-Analysis: Community Stocking Rates and Vegetation

Connecting changes in livestock and degradation of vegetation



SPOT VEGETATION Landsat TM / ETM

Synergy of High Resolution Earth Observation Satellites and Global Monitoring Systems ...

Spectral Bandpasses

0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50Wavelength (µm)

0.00

500.00

1000.00

1500.00

2000.00

2500.00

W/m

^2/µ

m

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Tran

smitta

nce

Spatial Resolution 1 km 30 m (TM 1-5, 7) Swath Width 2250 km 180 km NE ∆ ρ 0.005 – 0.024 ≤ 0.005 Quantization 12 bit (TOA) 8 bit Abs. Calibration 5 % ≈ 10 % Global Coverage 1 Day 16 Days



NOAA-AVHRR

Assessing and updating land use information from remote sensing dataon regional Mediterranean scale (e.g., AVHRR, VEGETATION, MODIS)in comparison to CORINE baseline information ...

vegetation

bare area

water

CORINE Land Cover Europe

MERIS / ENVISAT



The LADAMER Project: Towards a Dynamic Systems Approach for Land Degradation Assessment

SOC macro-dynamics

SOC meso-dynamics

LUS micro-dynamics

Land Degradation (LD) 1 km cell

CC Scenarios 1 km downscaledPopulation & Growth

per economic sectorPopulation & Growth per economic sector

Land claim per economic activity

Land claim per economic activity

Physical Suitabilityfor each LUS

Physical Suitabilityfor each LUS



Project in support of the GMES Action PlanDevelopment of an integrated Assessment tool covering the Northern Mediterranean subject to Land DegradationTo detect ‘Hot Spots’ of land degradationTasks:

Setting up databases on land use, soils, vegetation cover, socio-economics …Make extensive use of remote sensing data on land use and vegetation dynamics (AVHHR, VEGETATION …)Produce and validate an integrated land use change model (physical environment, and socio-economic activities). Resolution= 1 km grid Set-up procedures for the automatic calibration of the model based on new information obtained from remote sensingValidation and Information Dissemination

LADAMER (EVK2-2002-0599)



Terrain Attributes

Interpolate

P

Field Survey

E0

k

ksample sites

fsample sites

k – f0model

f0 f / f0 RC0

f

Climate Records

Sample of undisturbed

sites

MultispectralRemote Sensing

RUE = Ea / PFinal Assessment

LDS

after Boer, 1999

Assessing land degradation status at 1 km resolution ...



Time series of SMA derived multi-year monthly green vegetation fraction in the Mediterranean Basin

(Data Source: MARS …)

Application of Spectral Unmixing to the NOAA-AVHRR NDVI-Ts Data Space

Land Use Change & Trend Analysis ...



Assessing the impact of the socio-economicdrivers on land degradation ...

research institute for knowledge systems

RIKS

Forecasting Future Land Use Changes ...



Land use change is modelled;EU-Region consists of a grid with+/- 4 million 1 km2 cells;Overall growth and land claim of each land use function is determined at NUTS 3 levelNeighbourhood 8 cell-radius, 196 cells;Identical and coupled CA models, 1 per NUTS 3 region;Max. 32 land-use classes, some dynamic, some static;CA develops in a space defined by Suitability, Zoning and Infrastructure.

research institute for knowledge systems

RIKS

RIKS’ Cellular Automata Land Use Change Model to allocate growth to the individual 1 km plot



LADAMER Data requirements ...European Soil Data Base 1:1,000,000 (Soil Bureau, JRC-IES)European Soil Data Base 1:1,000,000 (Soil Bureau, JRC-IES)CORINE Land Cover (EEA)CORINE Land Cover (EEA)Climate Data (JRC-MARS, Soil Bureau)Climate Data (JRC-MARS, Soil Bureau)NOAA-AVHRR 8 km (Pathfinder)NOAA-AVHRR 8 km (Pathfinder)

GTOPO 30 (USGS)GTOPO 30 (USGS)NOAA-AVHRR 1 km 89-96 (MARS, JRC)NOAA-AVHRR 1 km 89-96 (MARS, JRC)

... nominal access to data sets and practical limitations

?

?SRTM (DLR)SRTM (DLR)Socio-Economic and Admin. Vectors (EUROSTATS, GISCO)Socio-Economic and Admin. Vectors (EUROSTATS, GISCO)VEGETATION, MODIS, MERISVEGETATION, MODIS, MERIS



Dissemination: UNCCD Annex IV, National Action Plans ...Validation: Use Existing EU-RTD Project Sites ...

Additional policy drivers which are particularly relevant to the LADAMER project: The 6th Environmental Action Plan (EAP) (DG ENV) calling upon a new European strategy on soils and soil protection; The Common Agricultural Policy (DG AGRI), particularly for the implementation of the existing (Regulation 2078/92,

Regulation 2080/92) and the forthcoming agri-environmental policy, to be further strengthened through the CAP reformunder AGENDA 2000;

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) (DG ENV) procedure as described in Council Directive 85/337/EEC as amended by Council Directive 87/11/EC;

The European Environment Agency (EEA) established under Council Regulation No. 1210/90; The European Spatial Development Perspective (DG REGIO);Other Internationally binding agreements (DG RELEX, DG DEV, DG ENV), like the UN Conference on Environment

and Development in 1992 in Agenda 21 with Chapter 10 focusing on soils, the European Soil Charter (1972) and Recommendation R (92) 8 (1992) of the Council of Europe, the recent work on Public Policies for the Protection of SoilResources by the OECD (1994), the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992), and the Convention to CombatDesertification (1994).

[email protected]

http:\\www.georange.net

land and soil degradation assessments in mediterranean europe · land and soil degradation...

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