Tibetan Desertification Analysis Based on RS

Tibet plateau is one of important sandstorm source zones of China, which has large desertification area. Tibetan desertification includes not only desertification of soil erosion, wind erosion, freeze-thaw and saline desertification, but also the stony desertification. Remote sensing and GIS techniques are applied to studying desertification changes and spatial characteristics of Tibet between 2000 and 2008. The research shows that: (1) those five kinds of desertification show different spectral characteristics in bands of TM images. (2) There is about 43 percent area of desertification in Tibet. And stony desertification area is the largest in those five kinds of desertification in Tibet. (3) Desertification of Tibet is distributed mainly in the north and west. (4) Wind erosion, water erosion, saline and stony desertification distribute mainly in Nagqu and Nagri, while freeze-thaw desertification primarily distributes in Nyingchi and Nagqu. (5) Wind erosion, water erosion and freeze-thaw desertification areas decreased, while stony desertification and saline desertification areas increased between 2000 and 2008.