Abstract
Context A research gap exist on the characterization of the dynamic changes of vegetation distribution in the eastern Pamirs. To provide a better understanding of the current status of the vegetation resources and improve resource management, it is important to present baseline vegetation cover maps and quantify significant changes of the vegetative cover.
Objectives (1) Define areas of change and non-change of the vegetative cover. (2) Determine specific locations of areas of large changes. (3) Determine temporal vegetation status.
Methods Landsat images acquired from three time periods – 2004, 2006, and 2014 – were used to demonstrate their efficacy for mapping the temporal vegetative cover in an arid environment. We utilized ancillary data to enhance the image classification and a high spatial resolution imagery to assess the accuracy.
Results The overall classification accuracy showed more than 85% for all maps produced. Results indicated that the use of the 30-m medium-coarse resolution images plus a variety of ancillary data could satisfactorily classify the spatiotemporal trends of vegetative cover changes in a high elevation arid environment. We observed a larger area of vegetation cover lost (15,000 ha) than gain (4,000 ha) since 2004. Approximately 35% of the vegetation cover was converted to barren land.
Conclusions Our results supplement existing vegetation research and improve our ability to measure and understand the degradation trend of the vegetative cover over time. This medium-coarse spatial resolution vegetation mapping analysis should serve as a first step in developing a land management plan.
Keywords Pamir Mountains Dynamics, Landsat, Remote Sensing, Vegetation Cover Change