**5. Satellite imagery for the purpose of land degradation mapping**

As it is obvious, land degradation phenomena is of high priority to be researched and different techniques are to be considered for that. The solution to this problem requires not only a detailed study of the land degradation causes, but also involves identifying the risk of degradation. Satellite imagery has its advantages and widely used for investigation of landscape changes dynamics as a result of anthropogenic impact since it is able to cover areas at different scales. Processing of time series of geoinformation products allows reliable detecting and mapping of landscape changes at local, regional and even global level.

As it was mentioned above, large scale or inaccessibility of degraded areas, insufficient funding for research on soil and vegetation cover condition, as well as unsatisfactory quality of the relevant archival materials, make multispectral satellite imagery a reliable information basis for the assessment of potential land deterioration. At the same time, the main task of multispectral satellite imagery processing is the selection of land degradation indicators. In this study, vegetation change and soil erosion dynamics are defined as such indicators. To map them, besides medium spatial resolution multispectral satellite images, auxiliary geospatial data—digital terrain, soil maps and climatic parameters of the study area—are required.

The authors used the land degradation mapping technique to investigate land degradation within relatively pristine (Oleshki sands) and human-inspired mining and industrial areas (central part of Ukraine) [19]. In each particular case, the authors offered thematic land degradation maps obtained as a result of multispectral images processing, allowed assessing the state and tendencies in land degradation processes within the study areas. The research visually emphasizes the level of anthropogenic stress within investigated territories.
