Thermal IR data possess valuable information; especially in the expression of the Land Surface Temperature (LST). The present research aims to study the response of the topsoil features to the seasonal changes of land surface temperature in arid environment by using thermal IR data. Wadi El Natrun depression occupy a small area to the west of the Nile Delta, it includes different types of landforms and soils, so it was chosen for this study. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and satellite image were used in a Geographic Information System (GIS) to delineate the main landforms. Field work has been done in order to check the accuracy of the landform units, describe the land surface features, measuring the LST and collect soil samples. It is found that the main features of the topsoil in the study area are cultivation, carbonate deposits, aeolian deposits, alluvial deposits, water bodies, wetland, gypsic deposits and sabkhas. The thermal bands of Landsat ETM+ were used to elaborate the land surface temperature at 3 dates during the year 2009. The correlation between top-soil features and LST was implemented. Accordingly the response of these features to the seasonal changes of LST was discussed in detail. The analyses of seasonal changes of LST provide valuable information about topsoil features before land surveying work. PDFFulltextXMLReferencesCitation
How to cite this article
R.R. Ali and A. Shalaby, 2012. Response of Topsoil Features to the Seasonal Changes of Land Surface Temperature in the Arid Environment. International Journal of Soil Science, 7: 39-50.