Temporal Variation of Land use in Al-Husainiya Project, Karbala Governorate - Iraq using some Spectral Index

Abstract

Geospatial technologies were utilized to monitor changes in land cover for agricultural projects in central Iraq. The Husseinia project in Karbala province was selected to study the temporal changes. Three satellite images from Landsat 5, 8, and 9 were selected for the years 1989, 2013, and 2022, respectively, with the sensors TM and OLI. The satellite imagery was processed visually and digitally and was radiometrically and geometrically improved. The study area was delineated, and supervised classification was performed on it. Some indicators were identified to determine the changes in the three selected years. Two indices were used in this study, namely the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI). The percentage of change in these indices was measured between different years to determine the variation between each year. The results indicated spatial and temporal changes in these indicators in the study area, reflecting changes in land cover. The satellite data were classified using ArcGIS Pro software and was somewhat consistent with the results of the indicators used in this study. Five categories of land cover were identified: agricultural lands (non-cultivated), barren lands, urban lands, vegetation cover, and water bodies. The results showed that the vegetation cover had the largest area, occupying 27,414.08 hectares or 64.23% of the total study area, while the water bodies had the smallest area, occupying only 1.28% of the area or 274.14 hectares. The remaining categories, namely agricultural lands (non-cultivated), barren lands, and urban lands, occupied areas of 8,277.87,1,441.09, and 4,999.09 hectares, respectively, representing percentages of 19.39%, 3.38%, and 11.71% of the total study area.