Assessment of Land Degradation in Northern Oman Using Geospatial Techniques

The northern coast of Oman (Al-Batinah plain), hosts the major population and irrigated agriculture of the country. Recently, it has experienced considerable land degradation, revealed by an inland shifting of cultivation. The main objective of this study was to assess the magnitude of land degradation in the past 2 decades (2001-2019) using the integration of remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS). The study relied on multi-temporal normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), land surface temperature (LST), and surface albedo data linked with in situ groundwater salinity measurements. The degree of land degradation was determined by applying the geospatial weighted overlay analysis (WOA) combining both space-based and in situ data. Results showed that degraded lands account for almost 70% of the coastal zone, with 18.6% under severe degradation. Major degradation occurred at Barka and Shinas regions synchronized by significant groundwater salinization. Results of this study assert on the significance of geospatial modeling for mapping land degradation in arid regions.