Informativeness of the Long-Term Average Spectral Characteristics of the Bare Soil Surface for the Detection of Soil Cover Degradation with the Neural Network Filtering of Remote Sensing Data

The long-term spectral characteristics of the bare soil surface (BSS) in the BLUE, GREEN, RED, NIR, SWIR1, and SWIR2 Landsat spectral bands are poorly studied. Most often, the RED and NIR spectral bands are used to analyze the spatial heterogeneity of the soil cover; in our opinion, it is outmoded and seems unreasonable. The study of multi-temporal spectral characteristics requires the processing of big remote sensing data based on artificial intelligence in the form of convolutional neural networks. The analysis of BSS belongs to the direct methods of analysis of the soil cover. Soil degradation can be detected by ground methods (field reconnaissance surveys), modeling, or digital methods, and based on the remote sensing data (RSD) analysis. Ground methods are laborious, and modeling gives indirect results. RSD analysis can be based on the principles of calculation of vegetation indices (VIs) and on the BSS identification. The calculation of VIs also provides indirect information about the soil cover through the state of vegetation. BSS analysis is a direct method for analyzing soil cover heterogeneity. In this work, the informativeness of the long-term (37 years) average spectral characteristics of the BLUE, GREEN, RED, NIR, SWIR1 and SWIR2 bands of the Landsat 4–8 satellites for detecting areas of soil degradation with recognition of the BSS using deep machine learning methods was estimated. The objects of study are the spectral characteristics of kastanozems (dark chestnut soils) in the south of Russia in the territory of the Morozovsky district of the Rostov region. Soil degradation in this area is mainly caused by erosion. The following methods were used: retrospective monitoring of soil and land cover, deep machine learning using convolutional neural networks, and cartographic analysis. Six new maps of the average long-term spectral brightness of the BSS have been obtained. The information content of the BSS for six spectral bands has been verified on the basis of ground surveys. The informativeness was determined by the percentage of coincidences of degradation facts identified during the RSD analysis, and those determined in the field. It has been established that the spectral bands line up in the following descending order of information content: RED, NIR, GREEN, BLUE, SWIR1, SWIR2. The accuracy of degradation maps by band was determined as: RED—84.6%, NIR—82.9%, GREEN—78.0%, BLUE—78.0%, SWIR1—75.5%, SWIR2—62.2%.