Land use Land Cover Monitoring and Change Detection of Tinsukia, India

Abstract

This study is driven towards land use land cover (LULC) mapping and LULC change detection in Tinsukia district, India. LULC mapping and change detection provides land planner and environmental scientists a better understanding of the land surface processes occurring in a given landscape so that they can come up with a strategy for sustainable development keeping degradation of natural environment from anthropogenic activities at bay. This study utilized remote sensing data products and software’s for LULC mapping and LULC change. Landsat data has been utilized in ENVI for the classification of LULC and LULC change detection during the period 1991-2020. The LULC classification was achieved through Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC) which is a widely preferred classificatory method. Image change detection was achieved through ENVI thematic change workflow. On top of that ArcGIS version 10.2 was used for preparing all map layouts. Results reveal that the study area has undergone significant changes in its LULC pattern. Substantial increases were recorded in agricultural area (862.4 sq. km to 1186 sq. km), built up area (473.4 sq. km to 699.5 sq. km) and waterbodies (81 sq. km to 146.7 sq. km). A declining trend was evident in degraded vegetation (772.2 sq. km to 274.3 sq. km) and barren land (798.8 sq. km to 641 sq. km). In the short study period, the study area already seems to be changing in its LULC pattern due to anthropogenic activities. The steady increases to the agricultural land and built up area (BUA) is a potential threat to the LULC balance and it may have manifold impacts to LULC dynamics in the future if proper land utilization policy is not adopted.