Earth Observation Strategies for Degradation Monitoring in South Africa with Sentinels - Results from the Spaces 2 Saldi-Project Year 1

The overarching goal of SALDi (South African Land Degradation MonItor) is to implement novel, adaptive, and sustainable tools for assessing land degradation in multi-use landscapes in South Africa. This presentation demonstrates results from hyper-temporal Sentinel-1 and −2 timeseries concerning woody cover mapping in complex savanna systems, invasive slangbos bush encroachment in grassland areas and regional soil moisture retrievals. Validation has been performed by cross-comparisons, field trips and permanently installed soil moisture networks.