A Timelapse Landsat of al-‘Ulā 1985-2020

An overview of changes in environmental exploitation in the region of the oasis of al-‘Ulā, KSA:
Using Landsat TM-ETM-OLI Surface Reflectance [NIR/Red/Green]

Understanding the evolution of the palm groves and the forms of the palm groves in the oasis of al-’Ulā and its surrounding area is one of the ambitions of the project al-‘Ulā AS Project: Anthropological survey of al-‘Ulā community and its oasis system. Indeed, through ethnography we can describe the present, but the examination of the past, at least the near past, allows us to better grasp the mechanisms and issues of these developments. This examination, based on the inhabitants’ accounts, is central, but it is significantly enlightened by the support of other means, such as this visual synopsis of the evolution of the vegetation cover by satellite imagery (Landsat in this case).

The extension of the cultivated domain, in the form of palm groves, is a major evolution of the region that must also be read as a major evolution of the demography of the last forty years, but also of the forms of exploitation of the environment: cultivating one’s garden in the old palm grove is not equivalent to the organization of date palm plantations in its periphery.And the more this periphery is extended, the more different is the social composition of the owners. This raises an issue that is highly intertwined with the previous one, namely the coexistence of complexes of former sedentary social groups and complexes of former pastoral Bedouin social groups.

Landsat Timelapse animation (1984-2020) of al-‘Ulā oasis region (KSA) for the project al-‘Ulā Anthropological Survey. Tool: Geemap.

Landsat Timelapse animation (1984-2020) of al-‘Ulā oasis (KSA) for the project al-‘Ulā Anthropological Survey. Tool: Geemap.