Determining the desertification risks of the Mashhad regions using integrated indices based on the AHP method

Desertification is a natural event that endangers the the world's ecology in different ways, and the unfavorable consequences of this event can be observed in various sections of the Earth. Designing evaluation systems that can investigate the process of destruction and adopt suitable strategies for dealing with this phenomenon is essential and important. In the meantime, selecting indices that can show a clear picture of the status of desertification can play a key role in the decision-making process. In this research, effective indices in desertification, such as vegetation, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, land surface temperature(LST), soil salinity, and rainfall were used on the basis of MODIS satellite data, MERRA, and TRMM for two periods in 2000 and 2013. Then, an AHP method was used to weigh the time variations of each index for 2000 and 2013. Finally, the most effective index for assessing the vulnerability of the study area to desertification in a 13-year period was determined. Results showed that the evapotranspiration index with a weight of 0.412 had the highest importance, and the LST index with a weight of 0.037 had the least importance among other indices. Therefore, the time variations of these indices showed a significant role in the vulnerability assessment of the Mashhad regions to desertification.