TITLE:
Diachronic Study of the Vegetation Covers Spatiotemporal Change Using GIS and Remote Sensing in the Ferkla Oasis: Case Study, Bour El Khourbat, Tinjdad, Morocco
AUTHORS:
Meryem El Amraoui, Lahcen Kabiri, Amina Kassou, Lamya Ouali, Alexis Nutz
KEYWORDS:
Climate Change, Remote Sensing, GIS, Vegetation Change Detection, Ferkla Oasis
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.10 No.1,
January
26,
2022
ABSTRACT: The Oasis of Ferkla is part of the Oases of Tafilalt in southern Morocco.
These are classified by UNESCO as the Oases of Southern Morocco Biosphere
Reserve. The Ferkla Oasis is increasingly experiencing a situation of increased regression and degradation, aggravated by
the effects of climate change. These foreshadow a considerable acceleration of
desertification and drought with the effect of the loss of production
systems whose social, ecological and economic role remains major for the whole
country. In order to contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of
the vegetation in this territory and the impact of climate change in the Oasis
of Ferkla, we used spatial remote sensing to trace the evolution of changes in
the vegetation cover in an agricultural extension called Bour El Khourbat.
Calculation of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index for seven multidate
satellite images allowed us to follow the vegetation in this oasis zone from
the year 1984 to 2019. Indeed, from these multi-temporal images, this study
clearly shows the evolution of the vegetation with a remarkable agricultural
extension towards the South-East of the zone. This extension is due not only to
the installation of a diversion dam upstream but also to the development of the
localized irrigation system “Drop by Drop” which is a technique that saves
water resources in addition to the presence in the area. Bour El Khourbat
specifies a geological structure, in the primary, relatively favorable to
having water linked to cracks.