Landcover Change Analysis using Satellite Data

Описание: In this tutorial, you will learn how to perform land cover change detection analysis using satellite imagery.

Depending on the temporal scale you are examining, as well as the specific elements of change you are interested in, you may need to approach this analysis in different ways. This process includes obtaining the data, conducting the analysis, and presenting the results.

Some common applications of land cover change detection using remote sensing data, such as satellite imagery, include:
(i) Wildfire impact assessment
(ii) Deforestation monitoring
(iii) Urban expansion detection
(iv) Glacial retreat analysis
(v) Agricultural land use change assessment
(vi) Coastal erosion and land loss analysis

For this tutorial, we use Sentinel-2A satellite imagery instead of Landsat 9, as Sentinel data has a higher spatial resolution of 10 meters. We perform a land cover change assessment to analyze the area damaged by the recent Los Angeles wildfire, which lasted for several weeks from late 2024 to early 2025.

Using QGIS, we identify the burnt area through:
1. Direct visual comparison of true-color images
2. Analysis of false-color composites
3. Generating the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) index

#sentinel #remotesensing #gis