ASESSMENT OF DROUGHT INDUCED LAND COVER CHANGES IN GAJIRAM AREA OF BORNO STATE USING LANDSAT MSS SATELLITE DATA

Drought is a principal factor governing land cover charges of land degradation in such ecosystems. Satellite remote sensing is a good cool of directing such changes. In this paper, the impact of Nigeria 's 1984 drought on land cover was examined by analyzing 1980 and 1987 digital Landsat MSS satellite data of Gajiram area of Borno State, Nigeria.The two data were radio-metrically and geometrically corrected, registered to a common map projection and then each subjected to a maximum likelihood unsupervised classification to produce a land cover map for each date. The two independently classified maps were then compared within the framework of Geographical Information System to evaluate the magnitude of changes in each land cover between the two dates. The results obtained revealed that between the two compared periods, the various land cover types have undergo the following changes in their special extents: Built-up (+100) Bare(+125%). Grass and Herbs (+13%) Shrubs and Grasses(+43%), Open Tress and Shrubs (-12%), Thcrr.bush t-4IVoi. Forest (-27%), Thickets (-45:>,. oi:d Ha&r (-60%). Possible underlining reasons for the observed changes, and their implication for land development in the area have been discussed.