Mapping karst rocky desertification using Landsat 8 images

Karst rocky desertification (KRD) is a serious ecological problem in southwest China. Various remote sensing techniques are available for investigating KRD. Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data, acquired in September (summer) 2013 and January (winter) 2014, were used to analyse the role of vegetation fraction, bedrock exposure, and slope on KRD classification. Then, the decision tree and fuzzy maximum likelihood methods were compared, using the above-mentioned factors, to verify the potential of Landsat 8 OLI data in monitoring KRD. The results show that these factors correlate well with the degree of KRD and that the addition of these factors into the classifier improved accuracy from 84.23% to 91.71%. Thus, Landsat 8 OLI data can be adapted for the monitoring of KRD, which will be useful for the 2015 Third National Desertification Survey.