Assessment of land cover changes in Andijan region for 1997-2020 using remote sensing

Abstract

Remote sensing (RS) plays a vital role in mapping of land use/land cover (LU/LC) and in quantitatively assessing the effect of human intervention on natural resources. In this study, the land cover analysis and correlation method for a certain period of time was used to classify the land cover of Andijan region with Landsat satellite images of 1997-2009-2020. A classification method combined with clustering was used to determine the land cover change, and a study was conducted using Google Earth software through 30 classes. The analysis shows that compared to 1997 (566.6 km2), the area of buildings and structures in the study area has expanded to 750 km2 in 2009 and in 2020 it was 770,4 km2, an increase of almost 1.4 times. Another aspect is that there is a decrease in the class of forested areas, gardens and cultivated fields. In particular, in 1997, the area of this class was 3047 km2, and by 2009 it had decreased to 2,430 km2. Thanks to the measures aimed at improving the geo-ecological situation, by 2020 the amount of the «green cover» was 2,644 km2. In Andijan region, empty lands (bare soils and barren lands) amounted to 678.8 km2 in 1997 and had increased to 1,115 km2 (1.6 times) by 2009. In 2020, the area of degraded lands had decreased by 858 km2. The results of remote sensing studies show that the expansion of construction and bare land has led to a reduction in green space. The amount of dust in the atmosphere rises when green space decreases. Another object representing the geo-ecological situation is water bodies, which has in- creased in the studied area. Initially, water basins were initially 9.65 km2 in 1997, decreased to 7.77 km2 by 2009, and reached 29.63 km2 by 2020. This study was carried out in order to determine the formation of agglomeration in the small and densely populated Andijan region, to study the effective use of limited land resources.