Using Spectral Indicators in Wind Erosion Modeling for Al-Adhim, West of Diyala Governorate

Abstract

    Wind erosion modeling  is one of the modern topics and the task of being directly affecting the environment  according to what the world is witnessing from the information revolution and digital technologies that left the field in a vision that simulates reality, to  reveal the behavior of the impact of wind on drawing land shapes,  and this is represented by a cartographic form (effective map) to detect the impact of wind on the environment in an area that is one of the most fertile areas of Iraq in agricultural production, Therefore, it was important to build models of the movement of dunes and the impact of winds in them to be an alert system for land users in the Al-Azim area of Diyala Governorate, which is bordered in the west by the Azim River and Salah al-Din Governorate, from the north and east by the Hamrin hills and from the south by its extension towards Al-Khalis, and astronomically between longitudes (  44°43'0"-44°28'0") east and latitudes  34°33'0")-34°17'0") north.

   The study reached the integration of remote sensing data and  geographic information systems in modeling the forms resulting from wind erosion,  following up on their changes, predicting the behaviors of their changes and controlling them for investment.

    The difference in the percentage of sand dune progress between the years (1990-2023) in the region was measured by building digital models and using several indicators  (BI, FMR, GSI, IOR and MSAVI),  land cover classification  as well as indicators  (DEM, rock formations, slope direction, slope,  altitudes, water network, soil, vegetation, climate) and the adoption of weighting generation using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP).As it turned out that the area of thick sand dunes  in 1990 was 37.26 km2 and in 2023 the area increased to 64.79 km2, while the sand flows were in 1990 167.30 km2 and their area decreased in 2023, reaching 78.25 km2.