Fig. 4

The polarized sensitivity patterns—low greenness and humidity versus high dryness and heat—reflect the interplay between natural drought stress and anthropogenic activities. Desert cores exhibit near-collapse ecological functionality, with dryness sensitivity exceeding 60%, while groundwater overexploitation at oasis margins creates a paradox of localized mitigation amid systemic degradation. The dominance of highly sensitive dryness areas (60.66%) signals the crossing of irreversible desertification thresholds, necessitating prioritized vegetation-based sand fixation and water management. For extreme heat-sensitive zones (50.62%), surface cover modulation, such as drought-tolerant vegetation restoration, is critical to disrupt thermal feedback loops. Methodological robustness is confirmed by a total percentage error below 0.1% across sensitivity categories, supporting spatially targeted governance strategies to guide ecological restoration in arid regions.