Detection of Changes in Land Use/ Land Cover Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques in Area East of the Nile Khartoum State-Sudan

Abstract

The study area lies to the east of the Nile (Sharg Elneel), Khartoum State (latitudes 15^o 25̎ 1̍ and 16° 19̎ 1̍ N and longitudes 33° 19̎ 8̍ and 33°02̎ 9̍ E). Using remote sensing techniques and geographic information system (GIS), the changes in land cover/land use have been estimated using two methods: supervised and unsupervised classification. the images were those of the years 1973, 2001, and 2015 MSS, ETM, ETM+, respectively(173/49 & 173/48 path/ row). The study area was classified into the following nine LU/LC types: water bodies, vegetation, rocky area, sandy soil, sandy sheet, clayey soil, bare soil, sand dunes and settlement areas. The individual areas covered by each type of land use/ land cover were calculated for each image using supervised and unsupervised classification. Then the areas were compared among the different years (images). The results indicated a decrease in areas of sandy soil, water bodies, vegetation cover, sand dunes, clay soil, and bare soil for years 1973-2001 and 1973-2015.  That was associated with significant increase in settlement area, sand sheet for the same period. As for the period 2001 and 2015 was an increase in the areas of vegetation, sandy soil, dunes, clay soil, and settlement. While there was a decrease in water bodies, rocky area, sand sheet and bar soil. A striking result of his study was an increase of 50% in the settlement area for the period 1973 – 2015. This indicated that more drift of people towards the Capital took place during this period possibly due to drought and civil strife. Also people come to Khartoum to have better living conditions, education, health care and to work and may be they look at Khartoum as a spring board for going abroad. This study recommended the use of remote sensing techniques and geographic information system in the follow up of desertification and land degradation by following changes in land cover and land use. It also recommended that sand movement (sand encroachment) shall be retarded possibly through increasing vegetation cover through seed broadcasting of pasture and range plants during the rainy season and to exploit the ground water of the NSS aquifer for irrigation.