Impact assessment of climatic condition on rangeland vegetation cover through RS and GIS techniques

In this study an indicator was introduced, namely “impact factor” (I). It shows impacts of long term climatic conditions on rangeland vegetation status. It considers precipitation and temperature as two main climatic parameters and also a remotely sensed vegetation index, SAVI. The impact factor was successfullyimplemented in this case study through integration of MODIS time series and eight meteorological station records. Also digital elevation model (DEM) was employed as an ancillary data for interpolation and generation of temperature and precipitation maps. In the studied region, northern areas which were also the plain outlet showed the maximum “I” values compared with other areas. These areas were found more susceptible to degradation of their resources (vegetation cover) as direct impacts of climatic conditions and drought spells.