Next Article in Journal
Reflection on Guangzhou’s Strategic Spatial Planning: Current Status, Conflicts, and Dilemmas
Next Article in Special Issue
Analysing Land Cover Change in the Valencian Community through Landsat Imagery: From 1984 to 2022
Previous Article in Journal
Integrated Mining and Reclamation Practices Enhance Sustainable Land Use: A Case Study in Huainan Coalfield, China
Previous Article in Special Issue
Land Subsidence Susceptibility Mapping Using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Machine Learning Models in a Semiarid Region of Iran
 
 
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
Article

Monitoring Seasonal Fluctuations in Saline Lakes of Tunisia Using Earth Observation Data Processed by GRASS GIS

Department of Geoinformatics, Faculty of Digital and Analytical Sciences, Universität Salzburg, Schillerstraße 30, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria
Land 2023, 12(11), 1995; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12111995
Submission received: 22 September 2023 / Revised: 29 October 2023 / Accepted: 30 October 2023 / Published: 31 October 2023

Abstract

This study documents the changes in the Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) in the region of saline lakes in north Tunisia, Sahara Desert. Remote sensing data are a valuable data source in monitoring LULC in lacustrine landscapes, because variations in the extent of lakes are visible from space and can be detected on the images. In this study, changes in LULC of the salt pans of Tunisia were evaluated using a series of 12 Landsat 8-9 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared (TIRS) images. The images were processed with the Geographic Resources Analysis Support System (GRASS) Geographic Information System (GIS) software. The study area included four salt lakes of north Tunisia in the two regions of the Gulf of Hammamet and Gulf of Gabès: (1) Sebkhet de Sidi el Hani (Sousse Governorate), (2) Sebkha de Moknine (Mahdia Governorate), (3) Sebkhet El Rharra and (4) Sebkhet en Noual (Sfax). A quantitative estimate of the areal extent analysed in this study is 182 km × 185 km for each Landsat scene in two study areas: Gulf of Hammamet and Gulf of Gabès. The images were analysed for the period 2017–2023 on months February, April and July for each year. Spatio-temporal changes in LULC and their climate–environmental driving forces were analysed. The results were interpreted and the highest changes were detected by accuracy assessment, computing the class separability matrices, evaluating the means and standard deviation for each band and plotting the reject probability maps. Multi-temporal changes in LULC classes are reported for each image. The results demonstrated that changes in salt lakes were determined for winter/spring/summer months as detected changes in water/land/salt/sand/vegetation areas. The accuracy of the classified images was evaluated using pixel rejection probability values, which were filtered out using the ‘r.mapcalc’ module of GRASS GIS. The confidence levels were computed and visualised with a series of maps along with the error matrix and measured convergence level of classified pixels. This paper contributes to the environmental monitoring of Tunisian landscapes and analysis of climate effects on LULC in landscapes of north Africa.
Keywords: remote sensing; image processing; Africa; Sahara; image analysis; Landsat remote sensing; image processing; Africa; Sahara; image analysis; Landsat

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Lemenkova, P. Monitoring Seasonal Fluctuations in Saline Lakes of Tunisia Using Earth Observation Data Processed by GRASS GIS. Land 2023, 12, 1995. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12111995

AMA Style

Lemenkova P. Monitoring Seasonal Fluctuations in Saline Lakes of Tunisia Using Earth Observation Data Processed by GRASS GIS. Land. 2023; 12(11):1995. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12111995

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lemenkova, Polina. 2023. "Monitoring Seasonal Fluctuations in Saline Lakes of Tunisia Using Earth Observation Data Processed by GRASS GIS" Land 12, no. 11: 1995. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12111995

APA Style

Lemenkova, P. (2023). Monitoring Seasonal Fluctuations in Saline Lakes of Tunisia Using Earth Observation Data Processed by GRASS GIS. Land, 12(11), 1995. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12111995

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Back to TopTop