Application of MODIS Land Products to Assessment of Land Degradation of Alpine Rangeland in Northern India with Limited Ground-Based Information

Masahiro Tasumi,Rikako Kimura,Nobumi Hasegawa,Kiyomi Hirakawa,Aya Nishiwaki

doi:10.3390/rs6109260

Abstract

Land degradation of alpine rangeland in Dachigam National Park, Northern India, was evaluated in this study using MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land products. The park has been used by a variety of livestock holders. With increasing numbers of livestock, the managers and users of the park are apprehensive about degradation of the grazing land. However, owing to weak infrastructure for scientific and statistical data collection and sociopolitical restrictions in the region, a lack of quality ground-based weather, vegetation, and livestock statistical data had prevented scientific assessment. Under these circumstances, the present study aimed to assess the rangeland environment and its degradation using MODIS vegetation, snow, and evapotranspiration products as primary input data for assessment. The result of the analysis indicated that soil water content and the timing of snowmelt play an important role in grass production in the area. Additionally, the possibility of land degradation in heavily-grazed rangeland was indicated via a multiple regression analysis at a decadal timescale, whereas weather conditions, such as rainfall and snow cover, primarily explained year-by-year differences in grass production. Although statistical uncertainties remain in the results derived in this study, the satellite-based data and the analyses will promote understanding of the rangeland environment and suggest the potential for unsustainable land management based on statistical probability. This study provides an important initial evaluation of alpine rangeland, for which ground-based information is limited.

Highlights

Alpine rangelands that spread across the highlands of East and Central Asia, which serve as carbon sinks [1,2], play an important role in the mitigation of global warming
Among the four types of MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based information employed in this study (i.e., Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), snow cover, ETpot and ETact/ETpot), two ET-related information sources had a spatial resolution of 1 km and were the coarsest
The multiple-regression result obtained in this research at least indicated the possibility that land degradation in heavy-grazing area had progressed during the evaluated 10-year period, with a p-value of 0.246

Summary

Introduction

Alpine rangelands that spread across the highlands of East and Central Asia, which serve as carbon sinks [1,2], play an important role in the mitigation of global warming. Degradation of these alpine rangelands is advancing in China [3], due mainly to inappropriate land management (e.g., overgrazing) and climatic changes. As the degradation of alpine rangelands has become one of the important environmental issues of recent decades, several studies have been conducted on the alpine rangeland environment in China. In contrast to rangelands in China, very few scientific studies have been conducted on rangelands in India. Future studies in this field are demanded in India to accumulate more knowledge and information about Indian rangeland and its conditions

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