Multi-criteria Evaluation for Desertification Assessment and Mapping: a Case Study from Jordan?s Marginal Land

Abstract?Desertification assessment is vital to develop actions plans aimed to prevent desertification issues. Utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to manipulate and analyze data retrieved from various sources of data including satellite images and thematic maps, as well as the use of remote sensing through sat- ellite images to retrieve environmental information on the earth?s surface, are crucial tools to understand related environmental dangers, which is used to monitor desertification and investigate different desert con- ditions. In this study, different physical and environmental factors associated with land desertification includ- ing vegetation cover, water, drainage systems, geomorphology, and soil moisture, were extracted and evalu- ated using various remote sensing techniques. In addition, multi-temporal analysis of Landsat TM data is used in this study to examine the status of vegetation and growth of irrigated area between 1983 and 1997. The GIS tool is utilized to aggregate and analyze different factors including soil, land use, and climate. A decrease in vegetation cover was clearly observed based on these analysis results. A severe deterioration of the natural vegetation cover is the primary cause of this predicament. Finally, many maps describing the actual situation of study area is obtained following the GIS layers examination, however, the most important maps are soil erosion, vegetation degradation, salinization and desertification.