The Aral Sea ecological crisis resulted from the USSR government decision in 1960s to deploy agricultural project for cotton production in Central Asia. Consequently water flow in the Aral Sea decreased drastically due to the regulation of Amydarya and Syrdarya Rivers for irrigation purposes from 55-60 km3 in 1950s to 43 km3 in 1970s, 4 km3 in 1980s and 9-10 km3 in 2000s. Expert land cover classification approach gives the opportunity to use the unlimited variable for classification purposes. The band algebra (band5/band4 and Band4/Band3) and remote sensing indices (Normalized differential Salinity Index (NDSI), Salt Pan Index (SPI), Salt Index (SI), Normalized difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Albedo, Crust Index) utilized for the land cover classification has shown satisfactory result with classification overall accuracy 86.9 % and kappa coefficient 0.85. Developed research algorithm and obtained results can support monitoring system, contingency planning development, and improvement of natural resources rational management.

Date Published: 25 October 2012
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 8538, Earth Resources and Environmental Remote Sensing/GIS Applications III, 85381V (25 October 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.972306

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8538:
Earth Resources and Environmental Remote Sensing/GIS Applications III
Shahid Habib; Ulrich Michel; Daniel L. Civco; David Messinger; Antonino Maltese; Manfred Ehlers; Karsten Schulz; Konstantinos G. Nikolakopoulos, Editor(s)