Developing trend of aeolian desertification in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region from 1977 to 2010

Aeolian desertification is one of the primary factors that impede sustainable socio-economic development in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. To develop a set of science-based preventive measures, it is first necessary to understand the temporal and spatial distribution of aeolian desertified land (ADL) and the driving factors responsible for its creation. In this study, we used Landsat MSS, TM, and ETM data from the 1970s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s to classify ADL into different types, and distribution of ADL in the Tibet Autonomous Region was described. The results showed that by 2010, ADL covered an area of 203,476 km² and was primarily (91.5 %) the gravel surface (gobi) type. The area of ADL and desertification severity increased from the south-east to the north-west. During the study period, aeolian desertification experienced three development stages: initial rapid development, subsequent slower development, and a final period of slow reversal. The area of ADL increased by a total of 3134 km² from 1977 to 2010, but the temporal trends differed among the three main sub-regions of Tibet. Increasing drought and irrational human activities have caused an expansion of desertification in some areas, whereas ecological restoration projects contributed to the reversal of desertification in others.