Land UseLand Cover Change Detection In Semi-Arid Lands A Study From Sudan-Ghubaysh Area A GIS And Remote Sensing Perspective

Abstract This article investigates and analyzes land useland cover change in Ghubaysh area-Western Sudan during the period 1973-2010. The main objective of the article is to detect and identify land cover changes that have occurred during the last four decades. Multi-temporal satellites images MSS TM and ETM of 1973 1987 and 2006 were used for data collection. The EARDAS Imagine classifier tool 9.2 and ArcGIS 10.2 have been used in the data analysis. Cultivated area Wadis shrubs grass and forest were the most dynamic parameters used in land cover classification. Results showed high level of accuracy 98.2 96.3 and 89.6 for the selected images for the years 1973 1987 and 2006 respectively. The results also showed that the study area was once very rich in vegetation cover consisted of grass shrubs and forest which covered 86.7 of the study area. A prolonged and unsystematic change in land cover was reported. The agricultural area increased by a rate of 1.8 and shrubs increased by a rate of 0.67 per year during the last four decades. A decrease in land cover by a rate of -1.4 -0.37 and -0.08 was accounted for grass area forest and Wadies respectively. A remarkable change has taken place in agricultural area from 9.8 in the year 1973 to 41.4 in the year 2010. This expansion is at the expense of the area covered by grass forest and Wadis.