Driving forces responsible for aeolian desertification in the source region of the Yangtze River from 1975 to 2005

Abstract

The Yangtze River is the China’s longest river and the third-longest river in the world. The river’s source region in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is especially sensitive to global environmental change because of its high elevation and cold environment. Under the influence of global warming, aeolian desertified land has expanded rapidly in this area. To assess the trends in aeolian desertification from 1975 to 2005, remote-sensing and GIS technology were used to monitor the extent of aeolian desertification in 1975, 1990, 2000, and 2005. The data sources included Landsat multi-spectral scanner images acquired in 1975, Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) images acquired in 2000, and Thematic Mapper (TM) images acquired in 1990 and 2005. Images recorded between June and October were selected, when vegetation grew well, because aeolian desertified land was more easily recognized during this period. Thematic maps, including land use and geomorphologic maps, were used as supplementary data. Aeolian desertification maps (1:100000) were produced for each year from the Landsat images through visual interpretation. The area of aeolian desertified land increased by 2,678.43 km² from 1975 to 2005, accounting for 8.8% of the total area of aeolian desertified land in 1975, an increase of 89.28 km² a⁻¹. Increasing mean annual temperature and the combination of a dry, cold, and windy climate in winter and spring were mainly responsible for the expansion of desertified land.