Analysis of Land Use and Land Cover Change Using Time-Series Data and Random Forest in North Korea

Yong Piao,Dongkun Lee,Seunggyu Jeong,Sangjin Park

doi:10.3390/rs13173501

Yong Piao, Dongkun Lee + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13173501

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Abstract

North Korea being one of the most degraded forests globally has recently been emphasizing in forest restoration. Monitoring the trend of forest restoration in North Korea has important reference significance for regional environmental management and ecological security. Thus, this study constructed and analyzed a time-series land use land cover (LULC) map to identify the LULC changes (LULCCs) over extensive periods across North Korea and understand the forest change trends. The analysis of LULC used Landsat multi-temporal image and Random Forest algorithm on Google Earth Engine(GEE) from 2001 to 2018 in North Korea. Through the LULCC detection technique and consideration of the cropland change relation with elevation, the forest change in North Korea for 2001–2018 was evaluated. We extended the existing sampling methodology and obtained a higher overall accuracy (98.2% ± 1.6%), with corresponding kappa coefficients (0.959 ± 0.037), and improved the classification accuracy in cropland and forest cover. Through the change detection and spatial analysis, our research shows that the forests in the southern and central regions of North Korea are undergoing restoration. The sampling method we extended in this study can effectively and reliably monitoring the change trend of North Korea forests. It also provides an important reference for the regional environmental management and ecological security in North Korea.

Highlights

Forests cover approximately one-third of the Earth’s land area but account for about two-thirds of the Earth’s total photosynthesis; they have an extremely large exchange with the atmosphere and are sensitive to climate change and human activities [1]
The overall accuracy and kappa coefficient were 98.2% ± 1.6% and
Thereason reason isisthat thatthe thebare bareland landand andgrassland grasslandin inthe thestudy studyarea areaare aresimilar similarin inspectrum spectrumand andthe thebare bare land area is extremely small, so the bare land in the product used in this study land area is extremely small, so the bare land in the land use land cover (LULC) product used in this studyisisso so different differentthat thatthe thesampling samplingmethod methodapplied appliedcannot cannotfilter filterout outthe thebare bareland landsample

Summary

Introduction

Forests cover approximately one-third of the Earth’s land area but account for about two-thirds of the Earth’s total photosynthesis; they have an extremely large exchange with the atmosphere and are sensitive to climate change and human activities [1]. Forests provide vital organic infrastructure for the planet such as climate control, disaster prevention, and carbon balance. Human activities, such as deforestation, land use, land-use change, and logging, affect changes in carbon stocks between the carbon pools of the terrestrial ecosystem and the atmosphere [2]. North Korea (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is known to have some of the most degraded forests in the world, converted to croplands of terrace field from mountainous areas, approximately 80% of North Korea’s terrain [5]. Remote sensing can be used for detecting LULC changes of a dynamic landscape at large spatial and temporal scales

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