Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXVI, Issue 1
Written by Irina PLISKO, Тatiana BYNDYCH
FAO's conclusions on the rate of soil degradation in the light of climate changes and the necessity of global soil monitoring actualize improvement of the methodology for research of reference or virgin soils. This is especially relevant for Ukraine, which is characterized by a high level of agricultural land plowing. Results of developing the fundamentals of multilevel thematic processing of satellite imagery data for diagnostics of virgin soil heterogeneity as the groundwork for establishing an information support system for soil research, as well as automated monitoring systems for agricultural land, are presented on the example of the soil studies of the Mikhailovskaya virgin land which is the only preserved area of virgin meadow steppe in the Forest-Steppe zone of Ukraine. Parameterization of soil properties and vegetation indices in classes derived from decoding of satellite imagery data and presented as a power-law probability distribution or geostatistical indicators are shown to provide a quantitative description of soil heterogeneity and are recommended for the purpose of comparison multitemporal satellite images as a high-sensitivity method to determine changes in their condition due anthropogenic influences.
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