Monitoring land cover dynamics in the Aral Sea region by remote sensing

Dust emission and environmental changes in the dried bottom of the Aral Sea

“…Increases in extreme air temperatures (Micklin, 1988), as well as in the amplitudes of mean daily, monthly and annual values have been observed (Khan et al, 2004). Kozhoridze et al (2012) showed that at the Aralsk Meteorological Station, located in the northeastern Aral Sea, there has been a significant increasing temperature trend of approximately 0.02°C/year during the last century.…”

“…An analysis of the changes that have occurred in this area from 1989 to 2009 revealed an increasing area under these three land cover classes (Fig. 15) (Kozhoridze et al, 2012). The area of solonchaks (including marsh, coastal and dry solonchaks) expanded from about 10,000 km 2 in 1989 to 22,500 km 2 in 2009; the area occupied by sandy fields, in combination with takyr-like soils, increased from about 9500 km 2 in 1989 to almost 11,200 km 2 in 2009, and the complex of sandy massifs, solonchaks and takyrs grew during these two decades from 1000 km 2 in 1989 to 17,600 km 2 in 2009 (Kozhoridze et al, 2012).…”

“…15) (Kozhoridze et al, 2012). The area of solonchaks (including marsh, coastal and dry solonchaks) expanded from about 10,000 km 2 in 1989 to 22,500 km 2 in 2009; the area occupied by sandy fields, in combination with takyr-like soils, increased from about 9500 km 2 in 1989 to almost 11,200 km 2 in 2009, and the complex of sandy massifs, solonchaks and takyrs grew during these two decades from 1000 km 2 in 1989 to 17,600 km 2 in 2009 (Kozhoridze et al, 2012). These findings are in a good agreement with the spatial distribution of dust emission sources demonstrated by the current study.…”

“…The digital elevation model of the dried bottom of the Aral Sea produced from www.worldclim.com and http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/) was matched with a land cover classification of the same region compiled by Kozhoridze et al (2012) (Fig. 16).…”

Dust storms in Central Asia: Spatial and temporal variations

“…The analysis of the recent satellite images evidences that in August 2011 the area of the dried bottom of the Aral Sea was 57,529 km 2 . The waterbodies' area was 2317 km 2 , 4411 km 2 and 3243 km 2 for Eastern, Western and Small Arals respectively (Kozhoridze, 2012). As a result of the Aral Sea level drop, new dry areas became active hotspots of dust storm outbreaks (Galaeva and Idrysova, 2007;Wiggs et al, 2003).…”