Remote Sensing Sensors and Recent Techniques in Desertification and Land Degradation Mapping––A Review

Land degradation is a serious environmental stress, which is identified and analysed through advanced remote sensing technique at a global level. Vegetal degradation, soil erosion, salinity and alkalinity, deforestation, changes in land cover are a few factors, which raise the severity of desertification and land degradation. The changes caused by these factors lower the land and food production and eventually leads to environmental and socio-economic sustainability. Periodical monitoring and observation of the factors, which are the root causes for desertification/land degradation can be evaluated through remote sensing and modelling techniques. The present chapter aims to review the various remote sensing sensors and the recent techniques in mapping desertification and land degradation processes. Remote sensing and GIS techniques serve as an aid to assess and monitor various land degradation processes, and to compare trends across spatial and temporal scales. In the future, the convergence of high-resolution data products with modern classification and modelling techniques could be explored more broadly to assess and obtain more detailed information on monitoring and modelling desertification and land degradation.