Vegetation Cover Monitoring in the Abu Dhabi Region Using GIS and Remote Sensing, 1973–2010

Abstract

Change detection plays a vital role in the gathering of accurate information about the behaviour of the landscape over time. This recent study used various historical Landsat satellite images to detect changes occurring in the vegetation cover in the Abu Dhabi Region from 1973 to 2010. Three 1973 MSS Landsat imagery scenes, three 1986 TM Landsat imagery scenes, three 1992 TM Landsat imagery scenes, and six 2010 ETM+ Landsat imagery scenes covering the study area were used to build normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series data by applying the integration of remote sensing and a geographic information system. Post-classification techniques were then used to analyze and interpret the vegetation index throughout the study period. It was found that the vegetation cover increased by about nine times during the study period because of the ongoing efforts by the Abu Dhabi government to improve and develop agriculture and green areas in the region. Moreover, it was also apparent that the vegetatio...