Dynamic changes of sandy land in northwest of Beijing, China

The area northwest of Beijing is one of the most important regions where many organizations invest and pay most attention. The environmental problems in this region affect not only Beijing but also the surrounding area. Based on observation of the characteristics of the change in sandy land, this study classified four types of dynamic change of sandy land, including extended sandy land, the reversely changed sandy land, the potential sandy land and no change in sandy land. Then the process and the trend of changes in sandy land and their environmental impact on the area northwest of Beijing were analyzed. The results show that the area of sandy land has increased in this region in the period of 1991 to 2002. Change between sandy land and grassland was the dominant change. It is found that the monitoring zones of Hunshandake sandy land and north of Yin Shan are regions with high ratio of extended sandy land, and are connected with widespread potential change of sandy land. This implies that these two regions have a high probability of increase in sandy land in the future. On the other hand, in the monitoring zone of Horqin sandy land and Ba Shang Plateau and its surrounding area, desertification had been controlled and the area of sandy land is expected to decrease. This indicates that the direction of the sandstorm to Beijing is expected to gradually move to the northwest. Furthermore, the decreases in sandy land and the reversing change from arable land to grassland and forests in the study region will affect the land quality and atmosphere. And the logistic multiple regression (LMR) model was employed to better understand the complexity and processes of increases in sandy land. This model predicts that there is a high probability of increases in sandy land in north of Siziwang Banner, Zhengxiangbai Banner and Zhenglan Banner. Finally, suggestions to the ecological construction of the study area have been proposed.