Environmental Analysis of Land Use and Land Change of Najran City: GIS and Remote Sensing

This study critically analyzes changes in land use and land cover by means of multi-temporal remote sensing of Najran City in Saudi Arabia between 1975 and 2019. A number of remotely sensed data were employed to create multi-maps using: (a) the normalized difference vegetation index; (b) head-up dig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Arabian journal for science and engineering (2011) 2020-10, Vol.45 (10), p.8803-8816
Main Authors: Abd El Aal, Ahmed K., Kamel, Mostafa, Alyami, Saleh H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural land
Dunes
Engineering
Environmental assessment
Flooding
Geographic information systems
Groundwater
Humanities and Social Sciences
Image classification
Land cover
Land reclamation
Land use
Landsat satellites
multidisciplinary
Normalized difference vegetative index
Reclaimed land
Remote sensing
Research Article-Civil Engineering
Satellite imagery
Satellite observation
Science
Water pollution
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Summary:This study critically analyzes changes in land use and land cover by means of multi-temporal remote sensing of Najran City in Saudi Arabia between 1975 and 2019. A number of remotely sensed data were employed to create multi-maps using: (a) the normalized difference vegetation index; (b) head-up digitizing; and (c) supervised classification of Landsat images using field observation and accuracy assessment, including field verification and Google Earth Professional. Criteria from a well-known technique of environmental assessment, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), were used to critically analyze land use and evaluate levels of sustainability, with particular focus on ecology. Therefore, land around Najran can be characterized as follows: (1) Najran valley; (2) agricultural land; (3) built-up areas; (4) reclaimed land; (5) basement rock; and (6) desert. The results indicate that agricultural land grew from an average of 39.81 km 2 (1.07%) in 1975 to 218.51 km 2 (5.9%) in 2005, although this was followed by a marked decline between 2005 and 2019. Urban land increased from 1.12 km 2 (0.031%) in 1975 to 154.35 km 2 (4.13%) in 2019. Furthermore, there was approximately 1289.47 km 2 of reclaimed land in 1975 (i.e., 34.64% of the total area study area) but approximately 1151.1 km 2 (30.86%) in 2019. There was a small amount of desert (i.e., sand dunes) in the study area, and no change was recorded in the basement rock. This study analyzed these land changes, likening them to BREEAM criteria of ecology and land use. A number of unsustainable practices were potentially resulting in serious land contamination and pollution of both surface and ground water, as well as an increased risk of flooding.
ISSN:2193-567X
1319-8025
2191-4281
DOI:10.1007/s13369-020-04884-x