Study Shows Long-Term Change in Vegetation Cover Along Intermittent River Using Drone and Landsat Imagery
HANOVER, N.H. – Feb. 3, 2021 – In the Namib Desert in southwestern Africa, the Kuiseb River, an ephemeral river which is dry most of the year, plays a vital role to the region. It provides most of the vegetation to the area and serves as a home for the local indigenous people, and migration corridor for many animals. The overall vegetation cover increased by 33% between 1984 and 2019, according to a Dartmouth study published in
Mountain zebra near the Kuiseb River in the Namib Desert. (Photo by Oliver Halsey)
Credit: Photo by Oliver Halsey.
In the Namib Desert in southwestern Africa, the Kuiseb River, an ephemeral river which is dry most of the year, plays a vital role to the region. It provides most of the vegetation to the area and serves as a home for the local indigenous people, and migration corridor for many animals. The overall vegetation cover increased by 33% between 1984 and 2019, according to a Dartmouth study published in
The study leveraged recent drone imagery and past satellite imagery to estimate past vegetation cover in this linear oasis of the Kuiseb River, a fertile area in the middle of one of the driest deserts on the Earth. The findings are significant, as this is the first study to reconstruct decades of vegetation change over a long stretch of the river, rather than at just a few sites.