Remote sensing and geographic information system in water erosion assessment

The aim of this review paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of geographical information system and remote sensing-based water erosion assessment. With multispectral and multi-temporal low cost data at various resolutions, remote sensing plays an important role for mapping the distribution and severity of water erosion and for modeling the risk and/or potential of soil loss. The ability of geographic information system to integrate spatial data of different types and sources makes its role unavoidable in water erosion assessment. The role of satellite data in identification of eroded lands and in providing inputs for erosion modeling has been discussed. The role of GIS in mapping eroded lands based on experts’ opinion, in generating spatial data inputs from sources other than remote sensing and in integrating the inputs to model the potential soil loss has been discussed.