Land Cover/Land Use Change Research Activities in Mongolia

R. Tsolmon*, M. Erdenetuya**

*NUM –ITC –UNESCO Remote Sensing/GIS Laboratory National University of Mongolia

**National Remote Sensing Center of Mongolia

“Monitoring Land cover, land use and fire in agricultural

and semi- arid regions of Northern Eurasia” 15-22 September, 2009 Almaty, Kazakhstan

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION: 41o35'N - 50o09'N and 87o44'E - 119o56'E

TOPOGRAPHY: Mountain taiga, wide steppe & gobiTERRITORY: 1,565,000 square kilometersPOPULATION: 2.8 million CAPITAL: Ulaanbaatar (over 1mln people)ECONOMIC BRANCH: Livestock farming & miningCLIMATE: Severe continentalNATURAL DISASTERS: Vulnerable

THE COUNTRY OF MONGOLIA

Mongolia is the only one of the ancient nomad states to retain the tenets of its original nomadic civilization, including the classic migration of livestock and closeness to nature.

Nomads civilization

Steppe region

High mountain

High mountain zone

Mountain forest steppe zone

Desert steppe zone

Taiga

Remote Sensing /GISLaboratory National

University ofMongolia

NRSC

PASTURE LAND DEGRADATION

SEVERE WINTER CONDITION (ZUD)

GLACIER

AIR POLLUTION

FORESTRY AND FOREST STEPPE FIRE

DROUGHT

DESERTIFICATION

NUM-ITC-UNESCO Remote Sensing Laboratory

National Remote Sensing Center of Mongolia

Land Cover/Use Change

Deforestation

Land degradation has been identified as one thepriority concerns. Causes of land degradation can bedivided into two categories natural and human inducedNatural cause: - Climate changes

- Dust and sand storms

Human induced: - Mining- Pasture Degradation/Overgrazing/

Contribution to Land Degradation

NOAA 1km

Land cover change

Average NDVI

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Months

NDVI

1992

2002

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

Area (sq.km)

w aterbody

desert drysteppe

forestedarea

land cover classes

Landcover change between years 1992 and 2002

19922002

Land classes 1992 2002Change (%)

water body 17470 11131 -36

sand, barren land 52593 76700 46

desert 522938 525259 0

desert steppe 155126 253936 64

dry steppe 334360 240397 -28

grassland, steppe 251261 250672 0

forested area 223904 205534 -8

permanent snow, ice 296 204 -31

Total (sq.km) 1557948

LAND DEGRADATION

Land covers classification, MODIS/NDVI, 2006

April – October 10 daily NDVISeasonal

Class name Area (sq.km)1 Water body 13069.962 Barren or Sparsely Vegetated 149761.953 Desert grassland 396903.854 Dry grassland 438067.815 Open Shrubland/grassland 109186.026 Grassland 277341.907 Needle leaf forest (larch, pine) 99657.698 Needle leaf, broadleaf mixed forest 45837.429 Deciduous, evergreen mixed forest 3451.76

10 Evergreen needle leaf forest 3230.4611 Snow and ice 1377.6112 High mountain rock, tundra 3482.1213 Meadow with trees 12115.4014 Cropland mixed with natural vegetation 4318.8815 Urban and Built-Up 310.54

Total 1558113.4

Land covers types and area

Natural zones:_ Taiga region_ Mountain region_ Forested steppe

region_ Steppe region_ Semi desert

region_ Desert region

NOAA-16 NDVI, April-October 1982–2008.

Desert region

1982-1990

Desert region changes for 3 decades

1991-1999

1999-2000

416200

416250

416300

416350

416400

416450

416500

416550

1982-1989 1990-1999 2000-2008К

м 2 Desert region

Цөл

Semi desert region

1982-1990

1991-1999

2000-2008

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

1982-1989 1990-1999 2000-2008K

m2 Цөлийн хээр

Цөлийн хээрийн өмнөд

Цөлйин хээрийн хойд

Steppe region

1982-1990

1991-1999

2000-2008

NOAA/NDVI dynamics, August 1982-2008

Many lakes have been disappeared

Drought index maps, 2000-2003

198819902000 2001

2002 2003

Non drought

Slight drought

Severe drought

Legends

Lake 1982

Dust and Sand Storm in Northeast Asia

Dust from the large expanse of desert across northern China and Mongolia has been subject to much greater study is eastward, out towards the Pacific Ocean.

APPROACHBand _ difference = ch4-ch5

by AVHRR/NOAA (1)

Band _ difference =ch32-ch31 by MODIS/TERRA (2)

Where: Ch4：AVHRR-4 (10.3μｍ～11.3μｍ); Ch5：AVHRR-5 (11.5μｍ～12.5μｍ);

Ch31：MODIS-31 (10.780μｍ～11.280μｍ)Ch32：MODIS-32 (11.770μｍ～12.270μｍ)

Dust and Sand Storm

Each year from March to May, it is observed that the dust and s

and storm, which occurred in the Gobi desert of Mongolia

20 aimagWind speed > 16m/s: 217 soum

> 28m/s: 31 soumMaximum Duration: 68 hours

Losses:3 person53000 livestock

2.1 billion tugrigs

Dust and Sand Storm Dust and Sand storm studies using MODIS/TERRA emissive bands

Band diffrence

Pre-processingSatellite data

Overlaying layers

Meteorological data into

GIS

Dust storm images

Visual Interpretation

Dust and Sand Storm

a) March.6, 2006 by AVHRR/NOAA b) March.6, 2006 by MODIS/TERRA

c)March.9, 2006 by AVHRR/NOAA d )March.9, 2006 by MODIS/TERRA

Snow/Dzud

1535.6 ha

127.38 ha

1390.11 (ha) LAND COVER MAP byMODIS Terra

1990-09-07 2002-07-141992-06-25

Glacier changes in Western mountain

Landsat data

GLACIER

MountainsArea, ha

Changes, %1990 2002

1 Tsambagarav 112.0 88.1 -21.3

2 Kharkhiraa 70.6 38.5 -45.53 Turgen 93.8 41.6 -55.64 Sutai 24.3 16.2 -33.35 Sair 14.2 8.1 -43.0

6 Munkhkhairkhan

51.2 29.8 41.8

Total 366.1 222.3 - 39.3

Classification results of Glaciers

Glacier thickness

ALOS/PALSAR data

Between 1990 and 2007 60,000 ha of forest have been lost;

Causes

-Incorrect policies

-infrastructure support for sustainable logging regimes

-Increasing domestic demand for fuel wood and timber

- Recent rapid deforestation is primarily due to fire, improper

commercial and illegal logging inadequate enforcement of forest

rules and regulations

- Grazing and browsing of young trees by livestock, and insect infestations

Deforestation

0 tonnes/ha

70 tonnes/ha

140 tonnes/ha

210 tonnes/ha

280 tonnes/ha

350tonnes/ha

2003 2004

Change forest biomass of the study area between years 2000 -2004 N52o, E98o

N48o, E102o 2005

2006 2007

∑=

=+=n

jijiji miexar

1,...,2,1

0 ,11

≥=∑=

ij

n

jj xx

nm =

m spectral channel number

n component number

ir

ija

jx

ie

Measured satellite sensor response for a pixel in spectral band iSpectral response of mixture component,j,for spectral band iProportion of mixture component, j ,for a pixel

The error term for spectral band i

Technique to apply linear mixture models

component 3

component 1

1 pixel

component 2

Outline of Methodology

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0%

1985 1990

1995 2005

2000

Onggi river basin

The lenght is 437km, site is 175 square km

The Ongi river starts from Khangai Range then acrossed 3 kinds of areas which are Mountain & Wooded area, steering plain area, gobi desert area.

Geographical location:47°10'N - 44°00'N

101°20'E - 105°00'E

Mining

Approximally 60 thousand people and over one million livestock who one living around Ongi river one getting defective of drink

water and pasture because of Ongi river and Ulaan lake’s evaporation.

During Mongolia’s transition to a free market, socio-economic

factors such as poverty and profit-seeking mining exploitation of the

environment have contributed to its deterioration, and consequently,

the loss in regional biodiversity, land degradation and vulnerability.

Landsat, August 1989 Landsat, August 2003Mining

0

5

1015

20

25

30

1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002

thou

sand

Gold, kg Silver, tons Coal, ton

LandsatTM Landsat ETM

TM 1991 ETM 2000

Onggi river&Ulaan lake, Landsat Image

Methodology

)1(* LLREDNIR

REDNIRSAVI +++

−=

( ) ( ) 2/812122 2

−−+−+= REDNIRNIRNIRMSAVI

Huete (1998)

Modified soil-adjusted vegetation

index (MSAVI2)

Change analysis

NDVI Change analysis

The Con, or conditional, function of Map Algebra functions fromESRI was employed in the analysis of socioeconomic factors.

•Con(<condition>, <true_expression>, {false_expression})

<condition> is a conditional expression that is evaluated for each

cell in the participating raster datasets (ESRI, 2008) and results in a value for either the <true_expression> or the {false_expression}

GIS analysis

con ( [goat] > 20000, con ([MSAVI2] < 0.35, 1, 0) ,0)

con ( [population] > 6500, con ([mining activities] > 1, 2, 0) ,0)

con ( [temperature > 16, con ([precipitation] < 10, 3, 0) ,0)

0 6

Land degradation map

MSAVI

temperature

precipitation

population

Mining activities

goat

GIS analysis

Degradation map using socio-economic factors over years 1998-2007

Ulaanbatar city 1990 Ulaanbatar city 2005Ger area 1990

Ger area 2005

Air pollution in Ulaanbaatar city

Limited research projects that focus on monitoring theenvironmental impacts of mining on land degradation andwater contamination issues, and how these impacts arelinked to human health.

There is a need to undertake analyses of biodiversity, land degradation, land use and vulnerability in Mongolia as an important factor of sustainable development.

Necessary of modeling of socio-economic factors and land Cover/use change using Remote Sensing/GIS

Mongolia needs regional cooperation with NERIN, NEESPI MAIRS

Results and discussion

Thank you