Monitoring Land Use Land Cover Change and Its Impact on Climatic Parameters Using Remote Sensing and GIS: A Case Study of Lower Dibang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

The changes in the socio-dynamics and the pattern of occurrences of natural hazards both at larger and regional scales have been influenced by the alterations in the Land use land cover change (LULCC) modifications. The LULCC of Lower Dibang valley of Arunachal Pradesh is investigated using contemporary tools of Remote sensing and Geographic Information system. A temporal analysis is done for the years viz, 2009, 2014, and 2021 using USGS Landsat satellite images. To determine the change in LULCC support vector machine a supervised classification method is used and is cross checked with Google Earth points for achieving accuracy and the temporal analysis is done by comparing each images pixel by pixel. The findings show that between 2009 and 2021, the region had significant changes in land cover in the following areas: forest area (–8%), rangeland/scrubland (–6%), barren land/bare soil/open rocks (–1%), agricultural (-2%), and water body/river (–1%). It was observed that lowland and higher altitude regions saw the majority of the LULCC alterations. In the seven tehsils of the Lower Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh, which are located at varying elevations and slopes, the effects of LULC changes on climatic and environmental variables such as latent/sensible heat flow, temperature, precipitation, and specific humidity have been evaluated independently. This research paper’s methodology and results section includes a full explanation of the procedures followed and the outcomes.