ESAEducationHomeWeather and ClimateGlobal ChangeNatural Disasters
   
Coastal change
Danube Delta change detectionOil spills
Deforestation
Bardia National ParkCongo River BasinKameng-Sonitpur Elephant ReserveKilimanjaroRondoniaShillong and Guwahati
Ice
Antarctica 2003Climate change and glaciersGlacier analysis using radar imageryGlacial retreat in the AlpsGlacier Ice FlowMonitoring of glaciers in the HimalayasRemote sensing of ice and snow
Urbanisation
CairoCity of KathmanduCórdobaHimalayasKathmandu ValleyLagos
Vegetation
Annapurna Conservation AreaLost in the AndesNgorongoro Conservation AreaNiger Inland DeltaVegetation in South America
 
 
 
 
 
printer friendly page
Landsat MSS image of rainy seasons in the  1970s
Landsat MSS image of rainy seasons in the 1970s
Exercise 2 - Landsat MSS
 
The two Landsat rainy season images of the 1970s and 1980s have been prepared as false-colour images. The red colour shows vegetation cover, and is clearly identifiable and distinguishable from non-vegetated areas.

In the 1970s, the whole area of the Niger Inland Delta was abundantly covered with vegetation. There were huge irrigated areas under cultivation south and south-east of the delta, along the border with Burkina Faso. The northern Lake Faguibine held a lot of water, shown here in black.

A totally different and alarming situation is visible in the image taken in the 1980s. Most of the vegetation has disappeared. Noticeable patches of green vegetation are only visible south of Lake Dabo. Most of the irrigated fields, indispensable to life, are gone. The ground is hard, salty and bald. Even the huge Lake Faguibine has silted up. The lake bed is clearly visible. The desert is expanding to the south and is burying the last vestiges of vegetation.  
 
Landsat MSS image of rainy seasons in the  1980s
Landsat MSS image of rainy seasons in the 1980s
The first Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) satellite was launched in 1972. The MSS type series consists of 3 satellites, Landsat 1, 2 and 3, and was replaced by the Landsat TM series in 1982.

The two MSS images shown here are satellite mosaics. One whole image consists of several different Landsat scenes. These scenes were taken in different years during the rainy season in the 1970s and the 1980s.

You can also click here to download both images in a ZIP file (888 KB).

The main problem of the Niger Inland Delta is its increasing aridity. Many irrigated agricultural areas in the 70s went dry in the 80s and became useless land. The following exercise shows the extent of the dessication. Image processing can allow new forms of irrigation to be planned and new areas of cultivation to be detected.

Open the LEOWorks programme. If you have not downloaded the Niger Inland Delta images yet, do so now.
 
 
Addition of Landsat MSS data 1970's and 1980's
Addition of Landsat MSS data of 1970s and 1980s
Choose File>Open. A dialogue box will pop up. Choose the folder Niger and select image landsat_mss70regen.tif. Open the image landsat_mss80regen.tif, too.

Choose Image>Arithmetic.... Select image landsat_mss70regen.tif as Image #1 and image landsat_mss80regen.tif as image #2. Select Add as Operation and All channels for Channel.

The new image consists of a colour pixel value addition of both input images.
 
 

What does the image show?

Explain the meaning of the red, pink, orange, blue and green areas by comparing them with the input images.

Describe the areas where the vegetation cover is still distinctive.
Why did the spread of vegetation shrink in other places?



Conclusions

Use the image with the information on the changes from the 1970s to the 1980s to continue studying the problems of desertification in the Sahel area, using different sources of information.
 
 

 


Niger Inland Delta
IntroductionBackground
Exercises
IntroductionExercises using Landsat ETM data
Links
Monitoring Landcover Changes of the Niger Inland Delta (Mali) by Means of Envisat-Meris Data (pdf)
Eduspace - Software
LEOWorks 3
Eduspace - Download
niger_inlanddelta.ziplandsat_mss.zip
 
 
 
   Copyright 2000 - 2014 © European Space Agency. All rights reserved.