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Spatial and temporal
analysis of forest cover changes in the Bartin region of
northwestern Turkey
Ayhan Atesoglu*
and Metin Tunay
Bartin University, Faculty of Forestry Forest Engineering
Department 74100-Bartin-Turkey.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
aatesoglu@yahoo.com.
Tel: +90 378 2235166.
Fax: +90 378 2235065.
Abbreviations:
GIS, Geographical information system; TM,
thematic mapper; GCPs, geometrically corrected using
21 uniformly distributed ground control points; UTM,
universal transverse Mercator; RMS, root-mean-square.
Accepted 22 July, 2010 |
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This study analyzed the changes in the forest areas in
Bartin province of Turkey and the surrounding areas using
remote sensing data and GIS techniques. Three Landsat
Thematic Mapper (TM) images of the study region, recorded in
1987, 1992, and 2000, were utilized. The main land-use
characteristics were derived using a maximum-likelihood
classification technique. The remotely sensed data allows
monitoring of current land use/land cover and detection of
temporal changes. Furthermore, a temporal and spatial
comparison of the classified image can be performed using
Geographical Information System (GIS) to show land-use
changes. GIS analysis of the classification results based on
reference datasets revealed that the area covered by forests
decreased significantly and that the amount of the reduction
corresponded mainly to increased agricultural land use. The
reasons for this negative impact on forested areas were
growth in the region’s population, and expansion of
agricultural areas and settlements. The classification
results also showed that past, afforestation work had been
successful.
Key words:
Land use/land cover, remote sensing, GIS, deforestation,
Bartin province, Turkey. |
