ASSESSING THE ROLE OF WINDBREAKS IN REDUCING WIND EROSION: REMOTE SENSING PERSPECTIVE

Remote sensing (RS) imagery is widely used to assess and detect environmental changes in various areas and the numerous methods resulting from natural and human activities. To understand landscape change, including the role of windbreaks in agricultural regions, RS datasets are essential. Detected by the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) project, agricultural landscapes have undergone changes such as an increase in complex cropping patterns by 164.19% and in pastures by 15.3%, but a decrease in coniferous forest by 10.19% and in land mainly occupied by agriculture with significant areas of natural vegetation by 10.17% between 1990 and 2018. These trends highlight the changing dynamics of land cover, which is critical for assessing the environmental and economic value of windbreaks as soil conservation structures. Monitoring these changes helps to understand the effectiveness of windbreaks in reducing soil degradation. By utilizing data from the remote sensing, this paper analyses land use changes and the spatial distribution of windbreaks, correlating their presence with reductions in soil degradation. By tracking land cover changes over time, RS data provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of windbreaks as measures to combat soil degradation in agricultural landscapes.