Multitemporal Analysis of Soil Sealing and Land Use Changes Linked to Urban Expansion of Salamanca (Spain) Using Landsat Images and Soil Carbon Management as a Mitigating Tool for Climate Change

Urban expansion in Salamanca, Spain, has led to significant soil sealing and land use changes since 1956, with the urbanized area increasing from 3.8% to 22.3%. This expansion has resulted in the sealing of productive agricultural soils, covering 2519 hectares, nearly 20% of which were high-quality soils. The study highlights an excessive increase in built-up areas compared to population dynamics, which not only affects food production but also reduces the soil's capacity to mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration. Researchers used multitemporal remote sensing and multicriteria analysis with GIS to assess these impacts and propose recommendations for sustainable urban development and soil carbon management in semi-arid ecosystems.

Criado, M., Santos-Francés, F., Martínez-Graña, A., Sánchez, Y., & Merchán, L. (2020). Multitemporal Analysis of Soil Sealing and Land Use Changes Linked to Urban Expansion of Salamanca (Spain) Using Landsat Images and Soil Carbon Management as a Mitigating Tool for Climate Change. Remote Sensing, 12(7), 1131. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12071131