Spatiotemporal changes of landscape pattern using impervious surface in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, China.

Abstract

Impervious surface is a key indicator for urbanization degree and the quality of urban environment. It is of great ecological significance to study the evolution of urban landscape based on impervious surface. We explored the spatiotemporal changes of impervious surface landscape pattern in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area from 2006 to 2016 using multi-temporal Landsat images based on landscape pattern index. The results showed that the impervious surface area (ISA) significantly increased in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area from 12127.69 km2 in 2006 to 20188.87 km2 in 2016, with an annual growth rate of 806.12 km2. High-density ISA was distributed in Guangzhou-Foshan and Shenzhen-Dongguan districts on the east and west of the Pearl River, respectively. In general, patch numbers, patch density, and edge density, as well as shape complexity and its fragmentation kept increasing during the past decade. The landscape pattern tended to be disordered, fragmented, and irregular. Moreover, the difference of impervious surface landscape pattern is obvious between cities. The areas with highest connectivity, stability and regularization were distributed in Hong Kong and Macao, while the landscape pattern in Huizhou and Jiangmen trended to be fragmentized and complex.