Monitoring Vegetation Cover in Wasit Governorate, Iraq Using Landsat Imagery and NDVI Analysis (2012–2024)

الملخص

    This study evaluates vegetation cover using the application of Landsat satellite images and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in Wasit Governorate, Iraq. We processed the satellite images of 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024 in order to assess spatial and temporal variations over vegetation coverage. NDVI values were derived from standard preprocessing of Landsat imagery (30 m resolution, including band stacking, clipping the study area, and bracket values through ratios from red and near-infrared spectral bands). The result shows that the vegetation distribution also has prominent spatial variability across the governorate. Vegetation thus is confined to the corridor of the Tigris River and irrigated agricultural lands with moderate NDVI values (comparatively tall shrub cover). By contrast, the western and southern sections of the state have little vegetation because it is semi-arid and lack easy access to water. NDVI > 0.4 is related to regions of high density of agricultural vegetation, and NDVI < 0.2 corresponds to bare land and desert surface. In general, the results show that NDVI extracted from Landsat images presents a useful method to monitor vegetation dynamics and environmental situations in arid and semi-arid areas, such as Wasit..