Annual 30-m land use/land cover maps of China for 1980–2015 from the integration of AVHRR,MODIS and Landsat data using the BFAST algorithm

Annual land use land cover(LULC) change information at medium spatial resolution(i.e. at 30 m) is required in numerous subjects, such as biophysical modelling, land management and global change studies. Annual LULC information,however, is usually not available at continental or national scale due to reasons such as insufficient remote sensing data coverage or lack of computational capabilities. Here we integrate high temporal resolution and coarse spatial resolution satellite images(i.e., Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) and Global Inventory Modelling and Mapping Studies(GIMMS) normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI)) with high spatial resolution datasets(China's Land-Use/cover Datasets(CLUDs) derived from 30-meter Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI) to generate reliable annual nominal 30 m LULC maps for the whole of China between 1980 and 2015. We also test the performance of a statistical based change detection algorithm(Breaks for Additive Seasonal and Trend), originally designed for tracking forest change, in classifying all-type LULC change.As a result, a nominal 30 m annual land use/land cover datasets(CLUD-A) from 1980 to 2015 was developed for the whole China. The mapping results were assessed with a change sample dataset, a regional annual validation sample set and a three-year China sample set. Of the detected change years, 75.61% matched the exact time of conversion within ±1 year. Annual mapping results provided a detail process of urbanization, deforestation, afforestation, water and cropland dynamics over the past 36 years. The consistent characterization of land change dynamics for China can be further used in scientific research and to support land management for policy-makers.     

A 30 meter land cover mapping of China with an efficient clustering algorithm CBEST

Remote sensing based land cover mapping at large scale is time consuming when using either supervised or unsupervised classification approaches. This article used a fast clustering method—Clustering by Eigen Space Transformation(CBEST) to produce a land cover map for China. Firstly, 508 Landsat TM scenes were collected and processed. Then, TM images were clustered by combining CBEST and K-means in each pre-defined ecological zone(50 in total for China). Finally, the obtained clusters were visually interpreted as land cover types to complete a land cover map. Accuracy evaluation using 2159 test samples indicates an overall accuracy of 71.7% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.64. Comparisons with two global land cover products(i.e., Finer Resolution Observation and Monitoring of Global Land Cover(FROM-GLC) and GlobCover 2009) also indicate that our land cover result using CBEST is superior in both land cover area estimation and visual effect for different land cover types.     

Land cover changes based on plant successions: Deforestation,rehabilitation and degeneration of forest in the upper Dadu River watershed

The land use/cover classification system is the foundation for land use/cover change study. Remote sensing data were firstly used for land use and land cover classification in the United States in 1971 and the Anderson Classification System was proposed in 1976[1], which was put into use in mapping 1:250000 land use and land cover of the United States. A series of new land cover classification systems have been established in recent years through research projects such as FAO LCCS and Bi…     

Carbon emissions induced by farmland expansion in China during the past 300 years

Scientific assessment of the accounting over carbon in the terrestrial ecosystem in the process land use/land cover changes caused by human activities will help reduce the uncertainty in estimating carbon emissions from the terrestrial ecosystem. This study employs a bookkeeping model to estimate the carbon emissions from farmland reclamation in China during the past 300 years based on the annual rate of land use changes(derived from historical natural vegetation, farmland data), preset carbon density and coefficients of disturbance curves. We find out that:(1) there was a net increase of 79.30×10~4km~2 in national farmland; about 65% of reclaimed farmland had been forest land and 26% of that had been grass land previously;(2) the total amount of carbon emissions from farmland expansion in China had been between 2.94 and 5.61 Pg with the median 3.78 Pg during the past 300 years; specifically, carbon emissions of vegetation were 1.58 Pg while those of soil ranged from 1.35 Pg to4.03 Pg with the median 2.20 Pg;(3) carbon emissions vary greatly across various ecosystems: the emissions were most from forest land, and then grass land and swamps, and the least from shrubs; deserts functioned more likely to be carbon stock in the process of land reclamation;(4) along the time line, carbon emissions had decreased first and then increased while the peak emissions occurred in the first half of 20 th century; and spatially, carbon emissions were most released in Northeast and Southwest China; Northwest China was of the minimum carbon emissions.     

Carbon emissions induced by cropland expansion in Northeast China during the past 300 years

Assessments of the impacts of land use and land cover changes(LUCC) on the terrestrial carbon budget, atmospheric CO2 concentration, and CO2-related climatic change are important to understand the environmental effects of LUCC and provide information about the effects of historical carbon emissions. Using regional land cover reconstructions from historical records, with a bookkeeping model, we estimated the carbon sink changes caused by historical cropland expansion in Northeast China during the past 300 years. The conclusions are as follows:(1) There was a dramatic land reclamation of cropland during the past 300 years in Northeast China. Approximately 26% of the natural land was cultivated, and 38% of the grassland and 20% of the forest and shrubland were converted to cropland.(2) The carbon emission induced by cropland expansion between 1683 and 1980 was 1.06–2.55 Pg C, and the estimation from the moderate scenario was 1.45 Pg C. The carbon emissions of the soil carbon pool was larger than that from the vegetation carbon pool and comprised more than 2/3 of the total carbon emissions.(3) The carbon emissions of the three provinces in Northeast China were different. Heilongjiang Province had the largest carbon emissions, and Jilin Province had the second largest emissions.(4) The primary source of carbon emissions was forest reclamation(taking 60% of the total emissions in the moderate scenario), the secondary source was grassland cultivation(taking 27%), and the tertiary sources were shrubland and wetland reclamation(taking 13%). Examination on the data accuracy revealed that the high-resolution regional land cover data allowed the carbon budget to be evaluated at the county level and improved the precision of the results. The carbon emission estimation in this study was lower than those in previous studies because of the improved land use data quality and various types of land use change considered.     

Study and Practice of Wide-Angle Seismic Data Processing

This paper presents the special processing methods used for wide-angle land seismic data through both theoretical study and model testing. They are different from conventional ones in the following aspects: separation of reflection and refraction waves, long offset NMO and stacking and forward modeling and inversion. These processing techniques have been applied for the first time to land seismic data from Liaohe areas, resulting in greatly improved quality of the deep formation and better imaging of the shallow layer obtained in the volcanic-shielded area. Wide-angle reflection and refraction seismic surveys were carried out in the Liaohe area using the maximum offset of 6500m and with the target around 2000ms. In the processing, we adopted the τ-p transform and the high-order normal moveout correction.     

Simulation of regional land subsidence in the southern Yangtze Delta

Investigation of the deformation characteristics of individual hydrostratigraphic units is the key to construct a regional land subsidence model. All of 12 hydrostratigraphic units in the study area were discussed throughout. On the basis of the measured data of groundwater level, five kinds of changing patterns of groundwater level were deduced and the relationship between the deformation characteris-tics of aquifer units and the corresponding changing patterns of groundwater level was discussed. The study area is 1.7×104 km2, where the geological condition is complex. The changing patterns of groundwater level the hydrostratigraphic units have experienced vary from site to site and from time to time. Consequently, the deformation characteristics of units are sophisticated. An identical hydros-tratigraphic unit may exhibit different deformation characteristics, such as elasticity, elasto-plasticity, visco-elasticity, and visco-elasto-plasticity, at different sites or during different periods, not to mention the different units. The existing models are difficult to describe the complex visco-elasto-plastic con-stitutive law under the condition of land subsidence. So the Merchant’s model was modified to depict the visco-elasto-plastic behavior of units. Then a three-dimensional flow model with variable parame-ters and a vertical one-dimensional subsidence model were constructed and coupled. The coupled model was applied in simulating land subsidence in the southern Yangtze Delta and a satisfactory re-sult was obtained. The simulation results show that the new coupled model can depict the complex geological conditions and describe the developing process of land subsidence very well in the south-ern Yangtze Delta. The new model can surely be used to predict land subsidence in the future, which is very helpful to taking measurements to control land subsidence.     

Effects of future land use change on the regional climate in China

Land use and land cover change(LUCC)is one of the important human forcing on climate.However,it is difficult to infer how LUCC will affect climate in the future from the effects of previous LUCC on regional climates in the past.Thus,based on the land cover data recommended by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5(CMIP5),a regional climate model(Reg CM4)was used to investigate the climate effects of future land use change over China.Two 15-year simulations(2036–2050),one with the current land use data and the other with future land cover scenario(2050)were conducted.It is noted that future LUCC in China is mainly characterized by the transition from the grassland to the forest.Results suggest that the magnitudes and ranges of the changes in temperature and precipitation caused by future LUCC show evident seasonality,which are more prominent in summer and autumn.Significant response of climate to future LUCC mainly happens in Northeast China,North China,the Hetao Area,Eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and South China.Further investigation shows that future LUCC can also produce significant impacts on the atmospheric circulation.LUCC results in abnormal southwesterly wind over extensive areas from the Indian peninsula to the coasts of the South China Sea and South China through the Bay of Bengal.Furthermore,Indian tropical southwest monsoons and South Sea southwest monsoons will both be strong,and the abnormal water vapor convergence from the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean will result in more precipitation in South China.     

Modeling the land surface reflectance for optical remote sensing data in rugged terrain

A model for topographic correction and land surface reflectance estimation for optical remote sensing data in rugged terrian is presented.Considering a directional-directional reflectance that is used for direct solar irradiance correction and a hemispheric-directional reflectance that is used for atmospheric diffuse irradiance and terrain background reflected irradiance correction respectively,the directional reflectance-based model for topographic effects removing and land surface reflectance calculation is developed by deducing the directional reflectance with topographic effects and using a radiative transfer model.A canopy reflectance simulated by GOMS model and Landsat/TM raw data covering Jiangxi rugged area were taken to validate the performance of the model presented in the paper.The validation results show that the model presented here has a remarkable ability to correct topography and estimate land surface reflectance and also provides a technique method for sequently quantitative remote sensing application in terrain area.     

CDP mapping and image reconstruction by using offset VSP data

Because zero-offset VSP (Vertical Seismic Profile) data can only provide the information of rock properties and structure in the area around the Fresnel zone within the well, the scheme of VSP with offset was developed to acquire the reflection information away from the borehole in order to widen the range of VSP survey and to improve the precision of imaging.In this paper, we present a new CDP (Common Depth Point) mapping approach to image the reflecting structure by using offset VSP data. For the processing of offset VSP data, we firstly separated the up-going and down-going wave-fields from VSP data by means of F-K filtering technique, and we can calculate the mapping conditions (position and reflecting traveltime for CDP point) in homogeneous media, and then reconstruct the inner structure of the earth.This method is tested by using the offset VSP data which are used to simulate the case of super-deep borehole by means of finite-difference method. The imaged structure matches the real model very well. The results show that the method present here could accurately image the inner structure of the earth if the deviation of initial velocity model from the true model is less than 10%. Finally, we presented the imaged results for the real offset data by using this method.     

Suitability mapping of global wetland areas and validation with remotely sensed data

With increasing urbanization and agricultural expansion, large tracts of wetlands have been either disturbed or converted to other uses. To protect wetlands, accurate distribution maps are needed. However, because of the dramatic diversity of wetlands and difficulties in field work, wetland mapping on a large spatial scale is very difficult to do. Until recently there were only a few high resolution global wetland distribution datasets developed for wetland protection and restoration. In this paper, we used hydrologic and climatic variables in combination with Compound Topographic Index(CTI) data in modeling the average annual water table depth at 30 arc-second grids over the continental areas of the world except for Antarctica. The water table depth data were modeled without considering influences of anthropogenic activities. We adopted a relationship between potential wetland distribution and water table depth to develop the global wetland suitability distribution dataset. The modeling results showed that the total area of global wetland reached 3.316×107 km2. Remote-sensing-based validation based on a compilation of wetland areas from multiple sources indicates that the overall accuracy of our product is 83.7%. This result can be used as the basis for mapping the actual global wetland distribution. Because the modeling process did not account for the impact of anthropogenic water management such as irrigation and reservoir construction over suitable wetland areas, our result represents the upper bound of wetland areas when compared with some other global wetland datasets. Our method requires relatively fewer datasets and has a higher accuracy than a recently developed global wetland dataset.     

Land use changes and their relations with carbon cycles over the past 300 a in China

Land use and land cover in China have changed greatly during the past 300 a, indicated by the rapid abrupt decrease of forest land area and the rapid increase of cropland area, which can affect terrestrial carbon cycle greatly. The first-hand materials are used to analyze main characteristics for land use and land cover changes in China during the study period. The following conclusions can be drawn from this study. The cropland area in China kept increasing from 60.78×106 hm2 in 1661 to 96.09×106 hm2 in 1998. Correspondingly, the forest land area decreased from 248.13×106 hm2 in 1700 to 109.01×106 hm2 in 1949. Affected by such changes, the terrestrial ecosystem carbon storage decreased in the mean time. Car-bon lost from land use and land cover changes mainly consist of the loss from vegetation biomass and soil. In the past 300 a, about 3.70 PgC was lost from vegetation biomass, and emissions from soil ranged from 0.80 to 5.84 PgC. The moderate evaluation of soil losses was 2.48 PgC. The total loss from vegetation and soil was between 4.50 and 9.54 PgC. The moderate and optimum evaluation was 6.18 PgC. Such carbon losses distribution varied spatially from region to region. Carbon lost more significantly in Northeast China and Southwest China than in other regions, because losses of forest land in these two regions were far greater than in the other regions during the past 300 a. And losses of carbon in the other regions were also definite, such as Inner Mongolia, the western part of South China, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. But the carbon lost very little from the traditional agricultural regions in China, such as North China and East China. Studies on the relationship between land use and land cover change and carbon cycle in China show that the land use activities, especially those related to agriculture and forest management, began to affect terrestrial carbon storage positively in recent years.     

Weathering and accumulation of trace elements in the soils of the Porali Plain,Balochistan: repercussions in agriculture

This study is the first attempt to assess the nature of the soil, especially on the western side of the Porali Plain in Balochistan; a new emerging agriculture hub, using weathering and pollution indices supplemented by multivariate analysis based on geochemical data. The outcomes of this study are expected to help farmers in soil management and selecting suitable crops for the region. Twenty-five soil samples were collected, mainly from the arable land of the Porali Plain. After drying and coni...     

A study on rainfall,runoff,and soil loss relations at different landuses-A case in Hilkot watershed in Pakistan

Reliable field data for all hydrologic parameters are often unavailable for watersheds even for those intensively monitored.In the absence of reliable such data,verified mathematical relations for an area can be used for other areas with same hydrologic and climatic regimes.The objectives of this research were:1) to assess the total runoff and sediment loss,and 2) to develop rainfall,runoff and soil loss relations for four prominent landuses(including degraded,pasture,forest and agriculture lands) in the Hilkot watershed(Pakistan).Four experimental natural runoff plots were established on the landuses (degraded,pasture,forest and agriculture land).The field study and data collection were conducted in the Hilkot watershed from 1999 to 2005.Regression analysis was conducted to establish relations among rainfall,runoff and soil loss for all landuses using.Regression analysis indicated good correlation with field data.     

Improvement of snow depth retrieval for FY3B-MWRI in China

The primary objective of this work is to develop an operational snow depth retrieval algorithm for the FengYun3B Microwave Radiation Imager(FY3B-MWRI)in China.Based on 7-year(2002–2009)observations of brightness temperature by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS(AMSR-E)and snow depth from Chinese meteorological stations,we develop a semi-empirical snow depth retrieval algorithm.When its land cover fraction is larger than 85%,we regard a pixel as pure at the satellite passive microwave remote-sensing scale.A 1-km resolution land use/land cover(LULC)map from the Data Center for Resources and Environmental Sciences,Chinese Academy of Sciences,is used to determine fractions of four main land cover types(grass,farmland,bare soil,and forest).Land cover sensitivity snow depth retrieval algorithms are initially developed using AMSR-E brightness temperature data.Each grid-cell snow depth was estimated as the sum of snow depths from each land cover algorithm weighted by percentages of land cover types within each grid cell.Through evaluation of this algorithm using station measurements from 2006,the root mean square error(RMSE)of snow depth retrieval is about 5.6 cm.In forest regions,snow depth is underestimated relative to ground observation,because stem volume and canopy closure are ignored in current algorithms.In addition,comparison between snow cover derived from AMSR-E and FY3B-MWRI with Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)snow cover products(MYD10C1)in January 2010 showed that algorithm accuracy in snow cover monitoring can reach 84%.Finally,we compared snow water equivalence(SWE)derived using FY3B-MWRI with AMSR-E SWE products in the Northern Hemisphere.The results show that AMSR-E overestimated SWE in China,which agrees with other validations.     

Spatiotemporal characteristics of the expansion of an urban agglomeration and its effect on the eco-environment: Case study on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains

Urban agglomerations, which are highly integrated urban groups, form during the advanced stages of industrialization and urban development. The urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains is one of the 19 urban agglomerations promoted by China's 13th Five-Year Plan and a key area of urbanization in Xinjiang. Based on remote sensing data, we analyzed the expansion of construction land in the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains and its effect on ecological value in 1980–2015. The results show that the expansion of construction land significantly affected ecological value in the study area over the past 35 years. Among land use types, grassland was the dominant contributor to changes in ecological value; its contribution rate reached 66.27% with an interannual variation of only 5%. The contribution rate of urban and rural residential land along with industrial and mining lands was very low(0.82%), while the interannual variation was large(86%). The area of construction land in the urban agglomeration expanded from 1,067 to 2,586 km~2, and the conversions of different land use types had different effects on ecological value. Among land use types, the conversions of lowcoverage grassland and dry land made the largest contributions to changes in ecological value. During the study period, a total of 1,685 km~2 of ecological land, 69.91% of which belonged to cultivated land and grassland, was converted into construction land.A total area of 1,082 km~2 of dry land and low-coverage grassland was converted into construction land, accounting for 64.21% of the total ecological land that was converted into construction land. In 2000–2015, the area of urban construction land increased significantly along with the proportion of unused land, including gobi(172 km~2), bare land(65 km~2), and salt-affected land(65 km~2), being converted into construction land. In contrast, the area of construction land that was converted into ecological land was less than 166 km~2. The areas with the largest expansions of construction land were concentrated in Urumqi, Karamay,and Changji, where the areas of construction land increased by 399, 186, and 126 km~2, respectively. The areas with the most rapid expansions in construction land were concentrated in Kuytun, Toksun, and Usu. The environmental effects of construction land expansion and land use change were more positive in the late stage of urban agglomeration(2000–2015) compared to in the early stage(1980–2000). Kuytun City, Shihezi City, and Wujiaqu City showed large changes in ecological value caused by the expansion of construction land, whereas the changes in ecological value in the 14 other cities were relatively small, and the expansion of construction land slowed in 2000–2015 compared to in 1980–2000. In the future, further development of the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains should fully consider the sensitivity and carrying capacity of the vulnerable ecological environment in this area. Population growth and industrial development in the urban agglomeration should be controlled based on the available water resources and ecological capacity to reduce the pressure on the environment and ensure sustainable development.     

An investigation of soil erosion and redistribution in a Mediterranean lowland agricultural catchment using caesium-137

This study sought to contribute to an improved understanding of soil erosion and redistribution on Mediterranean agricultural land, where traditional soil conservation practices have been applied over millennia to provide effective protection of cultivated land. The study was undertaken in the Na Borges catchment, a groundwater-dominated lowland limestone basin (319 km2), located in the northeastern part of Mallorca, Spain. The average sediment yield from the basin, based on river sediment load data, is 1 t/km2·yr. The 137Cs technique was used to quantify soil redistribution rates over the past 40 years and to identify the key factors involved in soil erosion and redistribution processes. To estimate erosion and deposition rates and to elucidate the main factors affecting soil redistribution, samples were collected from six slope transects representative of the local land use and slope gradients and the presence or absence of soil conservation practices. A mass balance and a profile distribution conversion model were used for cultivated areas and areas of natural vegetation, respectively, to derive point estimates of the soil redistribution rates from the 137Cs inventories measured for individual soil bulk cores. In areas without soil conservation practices, the estimated mean soil erosion rates ranged from 12.7 to 26.4 t/ha·yr, which correspond to the slight and moderate erosion classes. The erosivity of Mediterranean climatic conditions combined with the influence of agricultural practices and slope gradient on soil erosion, represent the main factors responsible for the variation of soil losses documented for the cultivated land located in downslope areas, in the absence of soil conservation practices. Deposition dominated for those transects affected by soil conservation practices, with rates ranging between 18.8 and 96.6 t/ha·yr. However, this situation does not mean that soil conservation measures retain all the sediment, but rather that agriculture and urbanization (i.e. new rural paths and stone boundaries) modified the micro-topography and diverted sediment from other upslope zones towards the slopes where sampling transects were located.     

Advances in urban information extraction from high-resolution remote sensing imagery

The study of urban area is one of the hottest research topics in the field of remote sensing. With the accumulation of high-resolution(HR) remote sensing data and emerging of new satellite sensors, HR observation of urban areas has become increasingly possible, which provides us with more elaborate urban information. However, the strong heterogeneity in the spectral and spatial domain of HR imagery brings great challenges to urban remote sensing. In recent years, numerous approaches were proposed to deal with HR image interpretation over complex urban scenes, including a series of features from low level to high level, as well as state-of-the-art methods depicting not only the urban extent, but also the intra-urban variations. In this paper, we aim to summarize the major advances in HR urban remote sensing from the aspects of feature representation and information extraction. Moreover, the future trends are discussed from the perspectives of methodology, urban structure and pattern characterization, big data challenge, and global mapping.     

Assessment of the impacts of land-use change and slope position on soil loss by magnetic susceptibility-based models

Soil loss is a global environmental problem resulting from the erosion process caused by many factors,including land use and slope position. Estimation of total soil loss from agricultural fields is useful for understanding the consequences of historical and current erosion. The main purposes of the current study are to explore the application of magnetic measurements in the mapping and measuring soil redistribution in cultivated(MZ13) and forested(MZ17) transects in a Moroccan subcatchment, to ...     

A multi-resolution global land cover dataset through multisource data aggregation

Recent developments of 30 m global land characterization datasets(e.g., land cover, vegetation continues field) represent the finest spatial resolution inputs for global scale studies. Here, we present results from further improvement to land cover mapping and impact analysis of spatial resolution on area estimation for different land cover types. We proposed a set of methods to aggregate two existing 30 m resolution circa 2010 global land cover maps, namely FROM-GLC(Finer Resolution Observation and Monitoring-Global Land Cover) and FROM-GLC-seg(Segmentation), with two coarser resolution global maps on development, i.e., Nighttime Light Impervious Surface Area(NL-ISA) and MODIS urban extent(MODIS-urban), to produce an improved 30 m global land cover map—FROM-GLC-agg(Aggregation). It was post-processed using additional coarse resolution datasets(i.e., MCD12Q1, GlobCover2009, MOD44 W etc.) to reduce land cover type confusion. Around 98.9% pixels remain 30 m resolution after some post-processing to this dataset. Based on this map, majority aggregation and proportion aggregation approaches were employed to create a multi-resolution hierarchy(i.e., 250 m, 500 m, 1 km, 5 km, 10 km, 25 km, 50 km, 100 km) of land cover maps to meet requirements for different resolutions from different applications. Through accuracy assessment, we found that the best overall accuracies for the post-processed base map(at 30 m) and the three maps subsequently aggregated at 250 m, 500 m, 1 km resolutions are 69.50%, 76.65%, 74.65%, and 73.47%, respectively. Our analysis of area-estimation biases for different land cover types at different resolutions suggests that maps at coarser than 5 km resolution contain at least 5% area estimation error for most land cover types. Proportion layers, which contain precise information on land cover percentage, are suggested for use when coarser resolution land cover data are required.