Assessment of land degradation indices obtained from remote sensing data

In this study, land degradation in Isfahan province in the period of 2001 - 2014 was monitored using trends analysis in terms of two indices of NDVI and RUE. To do this, MODIS satellite images with MOD13A2 code was used to investigate the vegetation degradation and for calculating the RUE, which is obtained from the NPP to rainfall ratio. The MODIS images with MOD17A3 code was used to calculate NPP and Kriging method was applied for obtaining rainfall map. The results showed that NDVI had an increasing trend while RUE had a decreasing trend based on annual rainfall. Evaluation of land degradation in the time period (2001-2014) and comparing the regression relationship between the two indices of NDVI and RUE in different land uses (agriculture, rangeland, forest and desert) of the study area showed that RUE trend was increasing in agriculture, rangeland and forest land uses, so that in 2001, the value of this index in the mentioned land uses was 0.2, 0.142 and 0.149, respectively and 0.61, 0.099 and 0.106 in 2014. In the desert regions, the trend of the two indices was decreasing, so that the value of RUE in 2001 and 2010 was decreased by the factor of 0.097 and 0.2131 g c m2 per year, respectively. Based on the results, it can be seen that the ecosystem of the study area is degrading.