Mapping and monitoring of land use and land cover changes using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques

With passage of time, Land use and Land cover (LULC) of coastal area undergoes significant change due to varying natural and anthropogenic causes. So it is essential to monitor the changes in land use and land cover at regular intervals for proper management of natural resources existing in an area. In the present study deals with the land use and land cover mapping and monitoring of the area around the Narmada river mouth, Gujarat, India using Survey of India (SOI) topographical sheets of 1974 in 1:50,000 scale and remote sensing images. The land use and land cover map of 1974 was prepared from the digitized map of the SOI Topographical sheet. The satellite data were interpreted based on visual interpretation keys to prepare land use and land cover map of year 1990 and 2011. During the last thirty seven years the prominent changes have occurred in land use and land cover of the study area. The study found that the agricultural area has gradually decreased from 35.18% in 1974 to 34.23% in 1990 and 31.24% in 2011 due to the urban and industrial growth. It is observed that salt pan activity, covering 0.90% in 1990, is increased to 3.19% in 2011. In 1974 and 1990 there was no industry and in 2011 it is observed that the industry area was 30.45 Sq. km (2.29%). It is observed that settlement area gradually increased from 0.53% in 1974 to 0.72% in 1990 and 1.18% in 2011. The study revealed that study region is transforming from a natural to an industrial-urban dominated landscape. This study also shows that temporal satellite remote sensing data integrated with GIS can be successfully used in the coastal land use and land cover change detection analysis.