Detection of land desertification and topsoil grain size using remote sensing

Grain size distribution of topsoil is an indicator to soil properties and structure, and can be potentially used to monitor land desertification using remote sensing. This study attempts to establish an index to detect topsoil grain size through ground in-situ soil spectral measurement and soil physical analysis. A new soil grain size index (GSI) was developed and applied to detect the desertification in Siziwang area of inner Mongolia, China, by using a Landsat/TM image (1993) and a Terra/MODIS image (2003).