SCIENTIA GEOGRAPHICA SINICA ›› 2017, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (11): 1755-1763.doi: 10.13249/j.cnki.sgs.2017.11.018

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Land Cover Change and Its Driving Forces in the Republic of Korea Since the 1990s

Hao Yu1,2(), Bai Zhang1(), Zongming Wang1, Chunying Ren1, Dehua Mao1, Mingming Jia1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Changchun 130102, Jilin, China
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2017-01-22 Revised:2017-03-21 Online:2017-11-20 Published:2017-11-20
  • Supported by:
    The Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZZD-EW-08-02)

Abstract:

Studying the long-term changes of the terrestrial system of neighboring countries could be of great significance for the utilization of natural resources and environmental management in China. Based on Landsat TM/OLI images, the paper analyzed the characteristics of land cover change and their driving forces in 1990 and 2015 in the Republic of Korea (ROK) by using object-based images analysis (OBIA). The result shows artificial surface, forests, wetlands, cropland and waterbody underwent great changes from 1990 to 2015. Artificial surface had the greatest increase, 1847.24 km2 with an annual rate of 12.54%. The expansion of artificial surface was mainly located at Seoul economic circle, which was converted mainly by cropland and forests. The area of forests, wetlands and cropland decreased by 776.71 km2, 707.32 km2 and 426.65 km2 respectively. In the past 25 years, the land cover changes mainly occurred where the elevation is under 100 m and the slope is less than 3°. The human factors consisting of population growth, urban expansion, economic development and policy regulation and control played an important role in land cover changes in ROK. The achievements of this study could provide scientific basis for the protection and rational utilization of land resources in China, especially in the Northeast China.

Key words: land cover change (LCC), driving forces, landsat remote sensing, Object-based Images Analysis (OBIA), Republic of Korea (ROK)

CLC Number: 

  • TP79