Land cover-adjusted index for the former Aral Sea using Landsat images

The Aral Sea was the fourth largest inland lake on globe until 1960, with a surface area of about 68,000 km2. Mainly, huge irrigation projects in many parts its transboundary catchment were responsible for catastrophic desiccation and ecological crises after second part 20th century. Ecological crisis surrounding (lake) regions is one critical environmental problems Central Asia. As result, monitoring desertification processes determining aerosol concentration atmosphere are highly relevant any attempts to mitigate changes basin. Remote sensing most appropriate method studying dust storms as it easily covers large areas high spatial temporal resolution. Satellite images provide detailed multispectral information earth’s features, which proves invaluable characterization vegetation, soil, water, landforms at different scales. Vegetation cover, biomass, soil properties analyzed remote methods (NDVI, SDVI). It emphasized that vegetation indices have little sensitivity low leaf common all desert ecosystems.