Examining the distribution and dynamics of impervious surface in different function zones in Beijing

Impervious surface (IS) is often recognized as the indicator of urban environmental changes. Numerous research efforts have been devoted to studying its spatio-temporal dynamics and ecological effects, especially for the IS in Beijing metropolitan region. However, most previous studies primarily considered the Beijing metropolitan region as a whole without considering the differences and heterogeneity among the function zones. In this study, the subpixel impervious surface results in Beijing within a time series (1991, 2001, 2005, 2011 and 2015) were extracted by means of the classification and regression tree (CART) model combined with change detection models. Then based on the method of standard deviation ellipse, Lorenz curve, contribution index (CI) and landscape metrics, the spatio-temporal dynamics and variations of IS (1991, 2001, 2011 and 2015) in different function zones and districts were analyzed. It is found that the total area of impervious surface in Beijing increased dramatically during the study period, increasing about 144.18%. The deflection angle of major axis of standard deviation ellipse decreased from 47.15° to 38.82°, indicating the major development axis in Beijing gradually moved from northeast-southwest to north-south. Moreover, the heterogeneity of impervious surface’s distribution among 16 districts weakened gradually, but the CI values and landscape metrics in four function zones differed greatly. The urban function extended zone (UFEZ), the main source of the growth of IS in Beijing, had the highest CI values. Its lowest CI value was 1.79 that is still much higher than the highest CI value in other function zones. The core function zone (CFZ), the traditional aggregation zone of impervious surface, had the highest contagion index (CONTAG) values, but it contributed less than UFEZ due to its small area. The CI value of the new urban developed zone (NUDZ) increased rapidly, and it increased from negative to positive and multiplied, becoming an important contributor to the rise of urban impervious surface. However, the ecological conservation zone (ECZ) had a constant negative contribution all the time, and its CI value decreased gradually. Moreover, the landscape metrics and centroids of impervious surface in different density classes differed greatly. The high-density impervious surface had a more compact configuration and a greater impact on the eco-environment.