The South African Land Degradation Monitor (SALDi) supported the production of the Sub-meter resolution digital elevation models and orthomosaics of the Kruger National Park, South Africa, v1.0, September-October 2018 dataset archived at CEDA.

The SALDi project develops new approaches for the spatially explicit detection of land degradation in South Africa. The objectives of the Working Group on Soil Erosion within SALDi are:

To improve the assessment of the extent of soil erosion in South Africa by means of current studies on the silting up of reservoirs.

To evaluate the extent of soil erosion in relation to soil recharge rates.

To improve the model-based estimation of soil erosion by water with a physically-based model.

Against the background of widespread land degradation in South Africa, SALDi pursues the following remote sensing related objectives:

Development of a permanent observation system (monitors) for ecosystem changes and degradation by satellite remote sensing.

Modelling of the interactions of surface changes, weather and climate.

Improvement of methods for the evaluation of soil degradation, especially soil erosion by water.

Consideration of socio-economic dimensions and impacts of land degradation and evaluation of SALDi products by local actors.

A main objective of TP1.3 is the development of high-resolution Spatio-temporal methods for the analysis of ecosystem changes using the latest Earth observation satellites (e.g. Sentinel-1), which serve as a basis for regional climate modelling (TP2) and synergistic intersection with other EO data (TP4). The Chair of Remote Sensing at FSU Jena has the task to analyze ecosystem changes and dynamics. The project will perform the following tasks:

a) Analysis of Spatio-temporal dynamics of surface moisture and mapping of vegetation structure (e.g. biomass)
b) Validation of derived EO products (e.g. soil moisture) through terrain campaigns and cooperation with South African partners;
c) Derivation of land degradation indicators through synergetic linking of optical and radar-based EO data.

The PI of the SALDi project is Jussi Baade and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under BMBF funding code: South African Land Degradation Monitor (SALDi) (01LL1701A-A).