ISPRS-Archives ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ISPRS-Archives Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci. 2194-9034 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W12-69-2019 ASSESSING VEGETATION STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN OASIS AGRO-ECOSYSTEMS USING SENTINEL-2 IMAGE TIME SERIES: CASE STUDY FOR DRÂA-TAFILALET REGION MOROCCO Eddahby L. 1 Popov M. A. 2 Stankevich S. A. 2 Kozlova A. A. 2 Svideniuk M. O. 2 Mezzane D. 3 Lukyanchuk I. 4 Larabi A. 1 Ibouh H. 5 Laboratory LIMEN “Water Resources & Information Technology”, Mohammadia School of Engineers, BO 765 Agdal, Rabat, Morocco Scientific Centre for Aerospace Research of the Earth, Kiev, Ukraine LMCN, Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh, Morocco LPMC, Picardie Jules Verne University, Amiens, France LGSE, Faculty of Sciences and Techniques,Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh, Morocco 21 02 2019 XLII-4/W12 69 73 Copyright: © 2019 L. Eddahby et al. 2019 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article is available from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W12-69-2019.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W12-69-2019.pdf

Nowadays, Moroccan oasis agro-ecosystems are under intense effect of natural and anthropogenic factors. Therefore, this essay proposes to use Leaf Area Index (LAI) to assess the consequences of the oases long-term biodegradation. The index was used as a widely-applied parameter of vegetation structure and an important indicator of plant growth and health. Therefore, a new optical multispectral Sentinel-2 data were used to build a long term LAI time series for the area of the Erfoud and Rissani oases, Errachidia province in Drâa-Tafilalet region in Morocco. Nine images of LAI spatial distribution over the study area were obtained by means of SNAP Biophysical Processor over the period since July 2015 till May 2018. Time series analysis of the resultedmaps has revealed a stable trend towards the average LAI decreasing and vegetation structure simplification as a consequence.