**7. Remote assessment of natural landscape degradation in the southern part of Ukraine**

The research was carried out for parts of the Lower Dnieper Sands—Kozachelagerska and Oleshkovskaya arenas and Shelemensky sands located on the left bank of the Dnieper River in Tsyurupinsk and Golopristan districts of the Kherson oblast (**Figure 4**).

The Lower Dnieper Sands is a unique natural complex of forest–steppe. It is the greatest sandy area of Europe, restrained all around by largest artificial forest [34]. However, as a result of human activity and fires, changes in vegetation and forest cover and destruction of natural psammophyte communities are observed, which leads to increased erosion processes and may ultimately lead to a complete desertification of the area. The main factors of land degradation within the study area are water (about 78%) and wind (20%), erosions [35].

mined. At the model's second level, the partial classifications of trends in vegetation cover change (*l*) and soil erosion change (*m*) are fused into the land degradation final map (*n*) of

**7. Remote assessment of natural landscape degradation in the southern part**

The research was carried out for parts of the Lower Dnieper Sands—Kozachelagerska and Oleshkovskaya arenas and Shelemensky sands located on the left bank of the Dnieper River

in Tsyurupinsk and Golopristan districts of the Kherson oblast (**Figure 4**).

study area.

62 Land Degradation and Desertification - a Global Crisis

**Figure 3.** The land degradation mapping dataflow diagram.

**of Ukraine**

**Figure 4.** The research area located in Kherson oblast. The Landsat 5/TM scene from August 16, 2010 (RGB—321) shows three arenas of the Lower Dnieper Sands: Kozachelagerskaya, Oleshkovskaya and Shelemensky sands.

The resulting map of land degradation risk changes in the study area is shown in the **Figure 5**. Visual analysis of the map shows that, in general, the risk changes in land degradation are associated with changes in vegetation cover. During both periods under consideration, the degree of risk change was weak. A significant extension of the areas with increased land quality deterioration risk in the period from 1991 to 2010 is caused by the large-scale fires that took place in August 2007.

Thus, multispectral satellite imagery can be effectively used for studying land quality deterioration indicators as well as for change detecting the risk of degradation in vast areas during a certain period of time [36]. Furthermore, the use of satellite images allows not only cover a

**Figure 5.** Land degradation risk within the study area for the periods: 1983–1991 (a) and 1991–2010 (b).

huge area of land affected by degradation and to establish reliable information from remote areas, but also significantly reduce the cost of the works on determination the land quality and its deterioration risks. In the future, the model proposed in this paper can be integrated in the geographic information system to support land management at the local and regional levels.
