Quantitative estimation of land cover structure in an arid region across the Israel-Egypt border using remote sensing data

Abstract The clearly visible border between the Israeli Negev and the Egyptian Sinai in remote sensing imagery is a very interesting phenomenon that has long been studied. The widely accepted explanation to this observation is a viewpoint of anthropogenic impacts on the arid environmental ecosystem across the border. In order to examine the validity of this viewpoint, three methods were employed in this study to determine the quantitative structure of main land cover patterns (biogenic crust, bare sand, vegetation and playa) in the arid region: field observation, measurement on aerial photograph, and analysis of vegetation cover changes on Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and SPOT images. Field observation on the Israeli side indicated that vegetation covers ∼16% of the ground, biogenic crust ∼69%, sand ∼12% and playa 3%. Evidence from aerial photograph supported a sharp contrast of vegetation cover across the border, with ∼17% on the Israeli side and ∼6% on the Egyptian side. Analysis of the available TM/SPOT images indicated a high vibration of seasonal vegetation changes in the region. The Israeli side had a vegetation cover rate ranging from above 18% in the growing season and below 5% in the dry months. The rate on the Egyptian side changes from less than 2% in the dry season to ∼5% in the growing season. Therefore, it is reasonable to estimate surface composition structure of the region as follows: vegetation, biogenic crust, bare sand and playa account for 5–18%, 71–84%, 7.5% and 3.5%, respectively, on the Israeli side, and 2–5%, 12.5%, 79–82% and 3.5% on the Egyptian side, depending on the season. This estimate of land cover structure has been successfully used to model land surface temperature differences across the border, in order to understand arid ecosystem evolution in the region.

[1]  Zhihao Qin,et al.  Numerical solution of a complete surface energy balance model for simulation of heat fluxes and surface temperature under bare soil environment , 2002, Appl. Math. Comput..

[2]  A. Karnieli,et al.  Spectral reflectance of biogenic crust developed on desert dune sand along the Israel-Egypt border , 1995 .

[3]  Arnon Karnieli,et al.  What determines the spectral reflectance of the Negev-Sinai sand dunes , 1996 .

[4]  J. Cihlar.  Land cover mapping of large areas from satellites: Status and research priorities , 2000 .

[5]  R. Balling.  The impact of summer rainfall on the temperature gradient along the United States-Mexico border , 1989 .

[6]  Zhihao Qin,et al.  Micrometeorological modeling to understand the thermal anomaly in the sand dunes across the Israel-Egypt border , 2002 .

[7]  A. Danin,et al.  Plant adaptations in desert dunes , 1991 .

[8]  Robert C. Balling,et al.  Impacts of Land Degradation on Historical Temperature Records from the Sonoran Desert , 1998 .

[9]  Zhihao Qin,et al.  Ground temperature measurement and emissivity determination to understand the thermal anomaly and its significance on the development of an arid environmental ecosystem in the sand dunes across the Israel–Egypt border , 2005 .

[10]  Thermal variation in the Israel-Sinai (Egypt) peninsula region , 2001 .

[11]  K. Tielbörger.  The vegetation of linear desert dunes in the north-western Negev, Israel , 1997 .

[12]  J. Otterman,et al.  Anthropogenic impact on the albedo of the earth , 1977 .

[13]  C. Harrison,et al.  People and the ecosystem: Biography as a study of ecology and culture , 1984 .

[14]  J. Otterman,et al.  Landsat monitoring of desert vegetation growth, 1972–1979 using a plant-shadowing model , 1983 .

[15]  C. Bahre,et al.  VEGETATION CHANGE ALONG THE ARIZONA-SONORA BOUNDARY∗ , 1978 .

[16]  Arnon Karnieli,et al.  Characteristic spectral reflectance of a semi-arid environment , 1995 .

[17]  J. Otterman,et al.  Baring High-Albedo Soils by Overgrazing: A Hypothesized Desertification Mechanism , 1974, Science.

[18]  J. Otterman.  Satellite and field studies of man's impact on the surface in arid regions , 1981 .

[19]  J. Otterman,et al.  Satellite Measurements of Surface Albedo and Temperatures in Semi-Desert , 1985 .

[20]  Arnon Karnieli,et al.  Development and implementation of spectral crust index over dune sands , 1997 .

[21]  Yann Kerr,et al.  Accurate land surface temperature retrieval from AVHRR data with use of an improved split window algorithm , 1992 .

[22]  Zhihao Qin,et al.  Remote sensing analysis of the land surface temperature anomaly in the sand-dune region across the Israel-Egypt border , 2002 .

[23]  A. Yair,et al.  Rainfall–runoff relationship over encrusted dune surfaces, Nizzana, Western Negev, Israel , 1997 .