Summary, Concluding Remarks and Recommendations

Abstract

The overall and general objective of this thesis is as a contribution to the use of remotely sensed data of LANDSAT: MSS, TM, and ETM+; and ASTER for agricultural purposes in the arid and semi-arid areas of the Euphrates River Basin (ERB) in Syria. The study area is located in the northeast of Syria. The geographical coordinates of the ERB are 36°49′N, 38°02′E at the Turkish border, and 34°29′N, 40°56′E at the Iraqi border. Its total area is about 50,335 km². Starting in the 1970s, Syria began to utilize the water of Euphrates River in agriculture, reclaiming a large amount of uncultivated areas from the river. The main objective of this program was to increase the amount of cultivated areas in the basin, as Syria basically is an agricultural country. These irrigation projects during the past four decades produced a great deal of change in land use/land cover (LULC).