Analysis of Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Finland’s Boreal Forests and Types over the Past Four Decades

Abstract

In the context of global warming, the study of the long-term spatial change characteristics of boreal forest cover is not only important for global climate change and sustainable development research but can also provide support for further research on the response of boreal forest changes to climate change. Using Landsat TM/OLI images from 1980 to 2020 as the data source and Google Earth Engine (GEE) as the platform, Finland was selected as the study area of boreal forests, and typical sample points of different features were chosen to classify forested and non-forested land using the random forest algorithm combined with spectral indices and classified feature sets of tasseled cap transform to obtain the four-phase forest cover change maps of the region. GEE test sample points and random selection points of images from the GF-2 and GF-7 satellites were used for verification. The classification accuracy was 97.17% and 88.9%. The five-phase forest cover images were segmented by a 2° latitude zone, and the spatial and temporal dynamic changes in forest cover in the whole area and each latitude zone were quantified by pixel superposition analysis. The results showed that, in the past 40 years, the boreal forest cover in Finland changed significantly, and the forest cover decreased from 75.79% to 65.36%, by 10.43%. Forest change mainly occurs in coniferous forests, whereas broadleaf forests are more stable. The forest coverage in each latitude zone decreased to varying degrees, with higher changes occurring in high-latitude areas above 64° N between 1980 and 2000, and higher and more severe changes occurring in low-latitude areas below 64° N between 2000 and 2020. Coniferous forests are the dominant type of forest in Finland, and the degradation of coniferous forests in the south is likely to become more severe, whereas the north and above is likely to become more favorable for coniferous forests. More monitoring and research are needed to follow up on the very different changes in the north and south regions.