中文摘要：

遥感技术以其信息量大、覆盖区域广和短周期等诸多特点正日趋成为大尺度荒漠化评价的主要手段，而最简单、最直接且最易于获取的评价指标是植被覆盖，目前用于获取干旱区植被覆盖的方法主要是计算植被指数（VI）和波谱混合分析（SMA）。文中在综合大量国内外文献的基础上，对这2种方法在荒漠化评价相关研究上的应用进行了详尽的分析，并对其在中国荒漠化评价中的应用及前景进行了评述，无疑，随着这2项技术的逐渐成熟和完善，荒漠化评价将变得更为客观、科学和可信。

英文摘要：

Remote sensing, characterized by more information, larger cover area and shorter period, has high priority to large-scale desertification assessment, by which the simplest, most direct and available indicator is vegetation cover, the methods used for vegetation cover acquisition in dryland consist mostly of vegetation index calculation and spectral mixture analysis. In this paper, these two methods for desertification related assessment were overviewed deliberately on the basis of lots of references, and analysed for their use in China. Undoubtedly, following the perfect of these two methods, desertification assessment will be more objective, scientific and creditable.