Effects of Climate Change and Human Activities on Aeolian Desertification Reversal in Mu Us Sandy Land, China

The aeolian desertification in Mu Us Sandy Land (MUSL) in northern China have been paid much attention, but the relative contributions of climate change and human activities to desertification dynamics are still not clear. Based on the Landsat MSS, TM, ETM+ and OLI images in 1975, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015, we developed a database of aeolian desertification land distribution, discussed the spatial and temporal variation of aeolian desertification, and discovered the relative contributions of climate change and human activities to desertification reversal, using the trends of the potential net primary productivity (NPP) and the human-influenced NPP with meteorological data and MODIS NPP products. The results indicated that aeolian desertification developed firstly from 1975 to 2000, with serious and severe aeolian desertification land continually increasing, and then changed into a reversal state from 2000 to 2015, as the serious aeolian desertification land decreased, although the severe, moderate and light aeolian desertification land lightly increased. Human activities were the dominant factor in desertification dynamics in MUSL and had different contributions to aeolian desertification reversal in different periods. This study will improve our understanding of the processes of aeolian desertification.