Estimation of the USLE cover and management factor C using satellite remote sensing: A review

Soil erosion has been one of the worldwide environmental disasters which severely threaten the sustainable development of socio-economic, natural resources, and the environment. The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is the most widely used model to quantify soil erosion. The cover and management factor C is perhaps the most important USLE factor because it represents conditions that can most easily be managed to reduce erosion. Satellite remote sensing can contribute through providing spatial data to assessment of C factor. Thus, many studies have been launched during the past 40 years. The paper mainly discusses the spatial data that is extracted from remote sensing images for estimating C factor: (1) land cover classification map, (2) image bands or ratios, (3) vegetation indices, (4) vegetation coverage. It is concluded that satellite remote sensing has been indispensible in C factor studies and its application need to penetrate deeply in future.