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Arid Land Geography ›› 2023, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (11): 1813-1825.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2023.091

• Earth Surface Process • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Evaluation of land desertification sensitivity based on comparison and verification of actual investigation and observation interpretation: A case of Shaanxi Province

CHEN Xieyang1(),LI Tongsheng1,2(),ZHU Xiaoqing3,XU Bo3,ZHU Bingchen1,LI Julin1   

  1. 1. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, Shaanxi, China
    2. Shaanxi Institute of Provincial Resource, Environment and Development, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, Shaanxi, China
    3. Shaanxi Provincial Land and Space Survey and Planning Institute, X’an 710054, Shaanxi, China
  • Received:2023-03-02 Revised:2023-06-21 Online:2023-11-25 Published:2023-12-05

Abstract:

Comparing the actual ecological sensitivity surveys with observed interpretation results for verification and correction is of great theoretical and practical importance to improve the accuracy and scientific rigor of ecological sensitivity evaluations. Herein, we focus on evaluating land desertification sensitivity in Shaanxi Province using indices constructed from remote sensing interpretation and climate observation data. The goal is to verify sensitivity evaluation results with the actual results of the Fifth Desertification and Sandification Survey in Shaanxi Province, analyze any differences, and ultimately refine the land desertification sensitivity results. The key findings are as follows: (1) The observation and interpretation results show notable spatial differences in land desertification sensitivity across Shaanxi Province. Particularly, the extremely sensitive areas are concentrated in Yulin, Yan’an, and Weinan cities in Shaanxi Province. (2) Actual survey results from the Fifth Desertification and Sandification Survey reveal that land sandification is primarily distributed in the northern regions of Yulin City along the Great Wall. (3) The difference characteristics show that 92.5% of the actual survey results of land sanding areas and land sanding sensitivity evaluation results exhibit spatial overlap. However, when assessing extremely sensitive land sandification areas and land sandification areas having spatial overlap between them, the overlap drops to 71.8%. (4) Various factors contribute to these discrepancies, including data source, model construction, and indicator assignment errors. (5) After addressing these discrepancies, the revised sensitivity evaluation of land desertification in Shaanxi Province shows that extremely sensitive areas are primarily located in Yulin City, northern Yan’an City, and Dali County in Weinan City, Shaanxi Province. The revised evaluation expands the area of extremely sensitive land desertification by 110.41 km2 compared to the observation and interpretation-based sensitivity evaluation of land desertification.

Key words: ecosystem sensitivity, land desertification, sensitivity evaluation, comparison and verification, Shaanxi Province