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Assessing and Monitoring the Desertification

in the Northern Part of Shaanxi Province,
China, Using Geoinformation Technology
Conference Paper May 2004
DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4785.6160

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Assessing and Monitoring the Desertification in the

Northern Part of Shaanxi Province, China, Using
Geoinformation Technology
Ayad Mohammed Fadhil Al-Quraishi
Faculty of Earth Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
E-mail: ayad_alquraishi@hotmail.com, ayad@cug.edu.cn
Abstract
China is a country with the largest population in the world over 1.3 billion and it is also
one of the countries affected most seriously by desertification. Geoinformation technology
and their integration form the basal and essential technical core of the system of geospace
information science. It is providing new tools for advanced ecosystem management. The
Northern part of Shaanxi Province, China, is confronted with several challenges and
ecological degradation. A dynamic monitoring system of land degradation was developed in
Arc/View GIS for the study area in the Northern part of Shaanxi Province during the period
from 1987 to 1999. The county level sand drifting coverage maps, vegetation cover maps,
Landsat TM composite images, land degradation maps are integrated in the monitoring
system. Image differencing for change detection, the crust index (CI), and the Normalized
Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) algorithms were applied on the Landsat TM remotely
sensed imagery datasets of the study area. The result of the study reveals that the extent of
degraded land within the study area has expanded from Northwest toward Southeast, while
the overall severity of land degradation has worsened.
Key words: Geoinformation technology, Monitoring system, Desertification, Shaanxi.
Introduction
According to the definition in UN convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD, 1994);
Desertification means land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas resulting
from various factors, including climatic variation and human activities. The Nairobi
Conference i n 1 97 7 did serve to draw attention to the phenomenon of the desertification.
It described desertification as the diminution or destruction of the biological potential of the
land, which can lead ultimately to desert-like conditions.
China is a country with the largest population in the world over than 1.3 billion and it is
also one of the countries affected most seriously by desertification. The affected area is
about 3.317 million km2, accounting 34.6% which approximately one third of the nation's
land area with around 400 million people being under the threat of desertification.
Desertification is widely distributed in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas of the
Northwest China, North China and the western part of Northeast China. The ecological
system is fragile and the environment damaged seriously in the above areas (CCICCD, 1996).
Monitoring desertification and land changes over time is required in order to determine
land condition trends: whether conditions are becoming worse, better, or staying the same.
Ideally, indicators of change should be quantitative, sensitive to small changes, small in
number, and simple to measure. Finding indicators that are unambiguously related to certain
land degradation process or to desertification in general is an important.
Geoinformation technology (Remote Sensing RS, Geographic Information Systems
GIS, and Global Positioning System GPS) and their integration form the basal and essential
technical core of the system of geospace information science. The collection of remotely
sensed data facilitates the synoptic analyses of earth-system function, patterning, and
1

change at local, regional, and global scales over time; such data also provide a vital link
between intensive, localized ecological research and the regional, national, and international
conservation and management of biological diversity (Wilkie and Finn, 1996).
Chen (1997) indicated that the integration of remote sensing and GIS data were carried
out to study, monitoring, and management of fragile ecosystems in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and
Inner Mongolia provinces of China. His study result revealed that there are four types of
land degradation; Desertification, soil erosion, secondary Stalinization, and wasted land.
Desertification in Naiman, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China was characterized by
the reactivation of fixed sand dunes. In their study, Imagawa et al. (1997) developed a
monitoring method of land cover/land use changes using Landsat TM imagery dataset in
order to analyze the progression of desertification. They applied the following three indices;
vegetation [TM 4 - TM 3)/ (TM 4 + TM 3], structure [TM 5- TM 1) /(TM 5 + TM 1)], and
redness [TM 3 - TM/ (TM 3 + TM 1)]. A monitoring method of land/cover use changes was
developed to the changes in the desertified areas. These methods enabled to obtain basic
information for clarifying the desertification processes.
The Northern part of Shaanxi Province is particularly vulnerable to desertification due to
its fragile ecosystem and intensive human activity.
The objectives of this study are:
1. Assess the desertification severity and calculating land degradation risk in the
ecologically vulnerable area in the Northern part of Shaanxi Province, China.
2. Evaluate and delineate the current status of land degradation using
Geoinformation technology.
3. Differentiate regional trends in land degradation hazard, and
4. Develop a dynamic monitoring system of land cover changes and land
degradation in GIS environment at county level.
Study Area
Because of the arid climate, water deficiency, soil erosion, and in some cases,
inappropriate exploitation of the natural resources, the Northern part of Shaanxi Province,
China, is confronted with several challenges and ecological degradation. It is particularly
vulnerable to desertification due to its fragile ecosystem. The Northern part of Shaanxi
Province (fig. 1) has been selected as the focus of this study. The region includes sixteen
counties, which are; Fugu, Shenmu, Yulin, Jiaxian, Mizhi, Hengshan, Suide, Zizhou, Qingjian,
Yanchuan, Ansai, Jingbian, Dingbian, Zhidan, and Wuqi. As well as to Yijin Huo Luo Qi
County, which is located in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, with a total area of
56767.603 km2. The study area extends between latitude N 36 36' to N 39 45', longitude E
109 19' to 110 27', which covered by Landsat TM imagery datasets (127/33, 127/34), and
from latitude N 36 34' to N 38 25', longitude E 107 14' to 108 48' which covered by Landsat
TM imagery datasets (128/34).
Geomorphologically, it has multiple hierarchical zones dominated by aeolian landforms.
Its climate varies from arid and semi-arid to subhumid with dry and cold winter. Most rainfall
events occur during summer months. Underground water resource is relatively rich. Natural
vegetation transforms from desert and desert steppe to forest steppe. Figure 1 shows the study
area location map, while table 1 shows the mean annual precipitation and potential
evapotranspiration for four meteorological stations in the study area.
Materials and Methods
Remote Sensing Data

Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery remotely sensed datasets (127/33, 127/34,
and 128/34) of the years 1987 and 1999 were assembled for this study. The pre-processing of
the dataset included geometric corrections. All images were geometrically corrected not only
to eliminate geometric distortions present in the images, but also to register the satellite
images to ground data. Ground Control Points (GCP) were extracted from vector files of the
same region, using geographic features such as big and small rivers. RMS values were less
than 0.35 pixel. Polynomials of first order were used in each registration. The nearest neighbor
resampling method was used in datum WGS84 and projection UTM (49N). All images
were resampled to a 30 m pixel grid. Crust index and NDVI algorithms were applied on the
TM images. The TM composites, vegetation cover, drifting sand images were interpreted and
statistically analyzed to produce desertification severity maps based on the vegetation cover
and extent of drifting sand. Preliminary results of this task were verified in the field
investigation by using GPS receiver. Set of land use maps, topographic maps,
meteorological data of the study area were used for this study.
Land Degradation Detection Methods
Land use and cover changes are usually detected by remote sensing analysis. There exist
mainly two methods to realize this procedure. The traditional one is the post-classification
comparison, aiming to find out the difference between the classified images of two different
dates (Weismiller et al., 1997; Singh, 1989). Some authors, however, proposed to perform this
detection by image differencing (Jensen et al., 1982; Lambin, 1994 and 1997). The latter
method was adopted to detect the land cover change in this study complemented with visual
comparison to distinguish and quantify the county-level change types.

Fig. 1. Location map of the study areas in the Northern part of Shaanxi Province, China
3

Table 1. Mean annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration for the four
counties in the Northern part of Shaanxi Province.
Location
(Shaanxi)

Year

ETP

P/ETP

Aridity Index
Class

(mm)
Yulin

Hengshan
Mizhi

1987

393.7

1993.1

0.198

Arid zone

1999

282.8

2001.4

0.141

Arid zone

1987

327.9

2310.7

0.142

Arid zone

1999

237.3

2217.9

0.107

Arid zone

1987

509.5

1733.0

0.294

Semi arid zone

1999

268.3

2008.8

0.134

Arid zone

1987

317.6

2214.8

0.143

Arid zone

1999

210.2

2104.7

0.100

Arid zone

Jingbian

Image differencing was performed between the NDVI images of the years 1987 and
1999 for the study area using subtracting the values of each pixel of the images for each date.
The zone of positive, negative changes, and the no-change were determined by establishing
the thresholding. According to this criterion; the positive, negative change, and no change
images were produced by ER Mapper package as a raster dataset, which was then converted
to a GIS environment. Fig. 2 illustrates the flowchart of the land detection method, which was
adopted in this study.

Fig. 2. Flowchart of the land cover change detection method

Soil and Vegetation Indices

Crust Index (CI)
A spectral crust index (CI) based on the normalized difference between the RED and the
BLUE spectral values:
CI = 1 - (RED - BLUE) / (RED + BLUE)
Applying the index to the sand dunes and sand lands environment, it has been shown that the
CI can be used to detect and to map, from remote sensing imagery (Karnieli, 1997).
The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
Rouse et al. (1974) initially proposed the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
(NDVI). The NDVI derived from the ratio of band 3 and band 4 of Landsat TM images data,
and was applied for monitoring the vegetation changes in the study area within the years of
1987 and 1999.
NDVI = (TM4-TM3) / (TM4-TM3)
Thresholding was used to make a mask for separating the drifting sand and vegetation
cover, and then produce the degradation maps of the study area for the years 1987 and 1999.
The threshold for the rank of each indicator was shown in table 2, and set in accordance with
the United Nations' indices for desertification assessment (UNEP, 1992), with recommendations
made by other relevant researchers in China (Dong, 1996; Liu, 1996).
Table 2 Indices and weights for factors used in the assessment of land degradation
Severity Level
Indicator

I
Severe

II
High

III
IV Weight
Medium Low

Vegetation Cover (%)

<10

10-25

25-40

>40

0.40

Drifting Sand Coverage

(%)

>65

15-65

5-15

<5

0.25

The Study Results

Figures 3 and 4 depict the spatial distribution of the drifting sand coverage over the study
area between 1987 and 1999, while Table 3 provides the related statistics for the area, which
covered by Landsat TM image (127/33). Covering 14.7% of the area, sand dunes and drifting
sands are designated as Severely degraded (III) land in the year of 1987, while it rose to
20.6% in the year of 1999, and designated as Severely degraded (II) land. Their extent is
under the influence of drifting sand and wind erosion. The result indicated that the vegetation
cover percentage in Fugu and Shenmu declined from 15.3% in 1987 to 6.9% in 1999. A less
than quarter of the study area (4,290 km2) was subject to the impact of drifting sand and/or wind
erosion, while the vegetation cover was less than 11%.
Figures 5 and 6 indicate the vegetation degradation severity for the study area during the
study period between 1987 and 1999, table 4 indicates the related statistics. On one hand, all
the counties except Yijin Huo Luo Qi have more than 80% of their area desertified at high
level, while Yijin Huo Luo Qi County has more than 70% of its territory medium desertified.
Comparison of the vegetation cover and the drifting sand coverage images were produced by
applying Crust index and NDVI algorithms reveals that the extent of degraded land within the

study area has expanded from Northwest toward Southeast, while the overall severity of land
degradation has worsened. This has been confirmed by field investigation.
Table 3. Drifting sand coverage percentages and its increasing rates of the study area in the
Northern part of Shaanxi Province during the period from 1987 to 1999.

County

Fugu
Shenmu
Yulin
Jiaxian
Yijin Huo Luo Qi

County
Area

Drifting Sand
1987

Drifting Sand
1999

(km2)

(km2)

(%)

(km2)

(%)

3,176.62
7,464.70
5,816.78
1,123.61
3,284.98

50.453
1,122.06
1,180.98
28.384
677.999

1.588
15.032
20.303
2.526
20.639

54.995
1,278.49
2,034.39
50.309
871.867

1.731
17.127
34.975
4.477
26.541

DS_1999

DS 1987
(km2)
(%)
4.542
156.426
853.407
21.925
193.868

20,866.696 3,059.881 14.664 4,290.049 20.559 1,230.168

Drifting
Sand Rate
km2 .yr-1

0.143
2.096
14.671
1.951
5.902

0.379
13.036
71.117
1.827
16.156

5.895

Table 4. Vegetation cover percentages and vegetation degradation rate for the study area in
the Northern part of Shaanxi Province during the period from 1987 to 1999.

County

County
Area

Vegetation Cover Vegetation Cover

1987
1999

V. C._1999

V. C._1987

Vegetation
Degradation
Rate

(km2)

(km2)

(%)

(km2)

(%)

(km2)

(%)

km2 .yr-1

Fugu

3,176.62

437.001

13.757

228.64

7.198

208.358

6.559

17.363

Shenmu

7,464.70

1,267.52

16.98

514.31

6.89

753.213

10.09

62.768

Yulin

5,816.78

851.018

14.63

648.06

11.141

202.962

3.489

16.914

Jiaxian
Yijin Huo Luo
Qi

1,123.61

152.048

13.532

116.72

10.388

35.325

3.144

2.944

3,284.98

943.001

28.706

654.59

19.927

288.408

8.78

24.034

20,866.696 3,650.591 17.495 2,162.320 10.363 1,488.266

7.132

Desertification (vegetation degradation) was at a severe level in Fugu and Shenmu, the
upstream area of Wuding river in 1999, while it was at a high level in 1987. In Yijin Huo Luo
Qi, the desertification was in medium level in 1987, while it rose to a high level in 1999.
Desertified areas have advanced in a linear manner towards the southeast of the region (fig. 3
and 4). The highest vegetation degradation rate was in Shenmu; which was 62.7 km2.yr-1,
while the highest drifting sand coverage expansion rate was 71.1 km2.yr-1 in Yulin. Evidently,
the rate of desertification has accelerated during the study period over the study region.
The results from the NDVI algorithm for the Landsat TM images (128/34), that covered
the Northwestern part of Shaanxi Province for the years 1987 and 1999 (fig. 7, 8 and table 5),
had shown that the highest percentage of the NDVI positive and negative changes was
8.814% and 5.072%, respectively for the total area of Zhi Dan County. The lowest
percentages of the NDVI positive and negative changes were in Dingbian County, they were
1.357 and 3.705% of the total area of the county, respectively. Dingbian and Wu Qi counties
had the highest and lowest percentages of the NDVI no-change; they are 94.938 and 88.724%
of the total area of the counties respectively. The highest positive net difference change in the
vegetation (vegetation increase) cover occurred in Zhi Dan County, which accounted for

3.742% of the total area of the county, while the highest negative net difference (vegetation
degradation) occurred in Dingbian County, which accounted for 2.348% of the total area of
the county. The general percentage of the NDVI positive and negative change in the area was
3.981 and 4.378% for the total area of district, respectively. The results had shown that there
was a vegetation degradation for the total area of the district; which was 0.396% of the total
area of the region.
The results of the NDVI algorithm for the Northern part of Shaanxi Province, which
covered by the images (123/32) for the years 1987 and 1999, indicated that was Yan Chuan
County had the largest vegetation increase percentage through the study period. The increase
of the NDVI positive change (vegetation increase) was 10.798% for the total area of the
county. Hong Shan County had the smallest increase; it was 2.583% of its area. The biggest
percentage of NDVI negative change was in Hong Shan County; which was 2.583% for the
total area of the county, and had the highest percentage of NDVI no-change, it was 96.823%.
The biggest positive net difference between the increase and decrease in vegetation was
9.446% for the area of Yan Chuan County. Hong Shan County had the lowest negative net
difference; it was (1.989%) of its area. The highest NDVI positive change rate was 17.682
km2.yr-1 in Yan Chuan County, while the lowest rate of 2.081 km2.yr-1 was in Hong Shan
County. The biggest rate of NDVI negative change was in Hong Shan County, at 9.053
km2.yr-1, while the lowest rate of 1.542 km2.yr-1 was in Suide County.
Table 5. County-level NDVI results of the Northern part of Shaanxi Province for the study
period from 1987 to 1999

County

County
Area
(km2)

NDVI_P
(km2)

NDVI_N

No-Change

(NDVI_P)(NDVI_N)

NDVI_P NDVI_N
rate
rate
(km2 .yr-1)

(km2)

(%)

(km2)

(%)

Jingbian 4,978.406 150.217 3.017

225.900

4.538

4,602.289

92.445

-1.520

12.52

18.83

Dingbian 6,857.069

1.357

254.048

3.705

6,509.997

94.938

-2.348

7.75

21.17

Zhi Dan 2,805.077 247.240 8.814

142.284

5.072

2,415.553

86.114

3.742

20.60

11.86

Wu Qi

3,807.007 243.965 6.408

185.327

4.868

3,377.715

88.724

1.540

20.33

15.44

Sum

18,447.559 734.446 3.981

807.559

4.378

16,905.554 91.641

-0.396

61.204

67.297

Average

15.301

16.824

93.024

(%)

The overall percentage of NDVI positive change for the whole area covered the TM
image (123/31), was 4.681% for the total area. The percentage of NDVI negative change for
the area was 1.945% for the total area. The whole area had an increase in the NDVI (vegetation)
over the period from 1987 to 1999; it was 2.736% of the total area. Table 6 and figures 9, 10
show the results in details.
Design of the Dynamic Monitoring System
Based on the above procedures, a dynamic monitoring system of land cover changes was
developed in Arc/View GIS version 3.3, the powerful management software. The county
level soil resources data and pattern map, land cover changes in the recent decades and
their corresponding data are integrated in the monitoring system. It includes the following
thematic layers:
7

1- Vegetation cover map of the year 1987 for the area, which covered by Landsat TM
(127/33).
2- Vegetation cover map of the year 1999 for the area, which covered by Landsat TM
(127/33).
3- Drifting sand map for the years 1987 for the area, which covered by Landsat TM
(127/33).
4- Drifting sand map for the years 1999 for the area, which covered by Landsat TM
(127/33).
5- NDVI positive change map (vegetation increase) for the area, which covered by
Landsat TM (128/34).
6- NDVI negative change map (vegetation degradation) for the area, which covered
by Landsat TM (128/34).
7- NDVI positive change map (vegetation increase) for the area, which covered by
Landsat TM (127/34).
8- NDVI negative change map (vegetation degradation) for the area, which covered
by Landsat TM (127/34).
9- Landsat TM (127/33) composite 741 (tif format) image for the years 1987 and
1999.
10- Landsat TM (128/34) composite 741 (tif format) image for the years 1987 and
1999.
11- Landsat TM (127/34) composite 741 (tif format) image for the years 1987 and
1999.
Table 6. County-level NDVI results of the Northern part of Shaanxi Province for the study
period from 1987 to 1999

County

County
Area

NDVI_P

NDVI_N

No Change

(NDVI_P)
NDVI_P NDVI_N
rate
rate
(NDVI_N)

(km2)

(km2)

(%)

(km2)

(%)

(km2)

(%)

Mi Zhi

1,177.966

43.666

3.707

22.371

1.899

1,111.929

94.394

1.808

3.639

1.864

Hong Shan

4,206.100

24.972

0.594

108.639 2.583

4,072.489

96.823

-1.989

2.081

9.053

Sui De

1,836.672

163.526

8.903

18.504

1.007

1,654.642

90.089

7.896

13.627

1.542

Zi Zhou

2,032.582

59.130

2.909

43.748

2.152

1,929.704

94.939

0.757

4.928

3.646

Qing Jian

1,852.252

119.801

6.468

28.644

1.546

1,703.807

91.986

4.921

9.983

2.387

91.679

3.799

51.480

2.134

2,269.769

94.067

1.666

7.640

4.290

212.185 10.798

26.575

1.352

1,726.197

87.849

9.446

17.682

2.215

101.993

5.178

39.501

2.005

1,828.397

92.817

3.172

8.499

3.292

816.952

4.681

339.462 1.945 16,296.934

93.37

2.736

68.079

28.289

Average

8.510

3.536

Zi Chang
2,412.928
Xian
Yan Chuan
1,964.957
Xian
An Sai Xian
1,969.891
(2/3)
Sum

17,453.348

(km2 yr-1)

Discussion and Conclusions

Overlay of the desertification severity layers interpreted from multi-temporal remotely
sensed materials in a GIS, in conjunction with field investigation using GPS receiver, revealed
that the spatial extent of desertified land in the area drastically expanded during the twelve
years study period (1987-1999) in the area which covered by Landast TM image (127/33).
It was found that most of the counties studied were highly desertified. The overall
severity of land degradation has worsened during the study period with degraded areas
accounting for 88.9% of the total area in 1999. There is a clear trend in the spatial distribution
of the desertification direction within the study area, which goes from the Northwest toward
the Southeast. In the other side, the result illustrated that most of the counties in the area,
which covered by Landsat TM image (127/34), had an increase in the vegetation cover during
the study period.
Implications of Reduction of Desertification Risk
The findings in this study have profound implications on how to reduce the severity of
desertification risk in the study areas. In accordance with Al-Quraishi (1988), Al-Quraishi and
Saleh (1988), and Al-Quraishi (2002) whom indicated to the importance of soil conditioners
for the fixation of mobile sand dunes in Iraq. As well as to Zhu and Wang (1993), who
developed a model for rehabilitation of desertified land in which experimental demonstration
was combined with popularization processes, successful solutions to the problem require a
combination of mechanical, biological, ecological, engineering, and legislative measures.
Mechanical measures, such as bundling and deployment of straw grid fences, Clayey blocks
barriers, Cane branches barriers, and dry planting of Tamarix (tamarix articulata) cuttings in
flat sandy areas, aim at stabilizing mobile sand dunes while biological measures intend to
reduce wind velocity by erection of windbreaks (Al-Quraishi and Saleh, 1992; Al-Quraishi,
2003). Ecological measures include diversification of traditional farming activities including
animal husbandry and forestry.
A systematic approach would include the establishment of effective vegetation cover
composed of forest belts, windbreak networks, and scattered patches of orchards and grassland
to decrease the soil erosion and the land degradation in the Northern part of Shaanxi
Provinces. Engineering measures such as water conservancy projects or watershed
development would aim at improvement of conservation of rainwater for facilitating survival
and growth of vegetation, thus stabilizing mobile dunes, especially in the Northern part of
Shaanxi Province. A well-established vegetative cover, in turn, is conducive to the retention
of rainwater locally. Improved irrigation conditions would enhance farmland productivity,
and hence reduce over-cultivation and grazing. If the reasonably rich water resource in the
area could be adequately utilized through engineering projects, it would be feasible to
gradually revegetate this area.
In summary, no single means can work effectively in isolation. Only concerted measures
can reduce the severity of desertification in the study area and reverse the trend of
desertification. Rehabilitation efforts must be directed towards both severely degraded areas
and also those counties that are not at high risk in order to reduce the overall risk of
desertification.
This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the Geoinformation technology in
generating essential quantitative information on soil erosion and land degradation. The
outcome of this type of studies represents a valuable resource for decision makers to guard
against land acquisition in high erosion risk areas or to issue conditional permission with
conservation measures to future development projects in the study areas in the Northern part
of Shaanxi province, China.

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10

Fig. 3. County level sand drifting

map for the study area for the year
1987

Fig. 4. County level sand drifting

map for the study area for the year
1999

Fig. 5.County level vegetation cover

map for the study area in the
Northern part of Shaanxi Province
for the year 1987

Fig. 6. County level vegetation cover

map for the study area in the
Northern part of Shaanxi Province
for the year 1999

Fig. 7. County-level NDVI positive

change map of the Northern part of
Shaanxi Province for the study
period from 1987 to 1999

Fig. 8. County-level NDVI negative

change map of the Northern part of
Shaanxi Province for the study
period from 1987 to 1999

Fig. 9. County-level NDVI positive

change map of the Northern part of
Shaanxi Province for the study
period from 1987 to 1999

Fig. 10. County-level NDVI negative

change map of the Northern part of
Shaanxi Province for the study
period from 1987 to 1999