LUCC IN CHINA OVER THE LAST HALF CENTURY: CONVERSION OF CORONA INTO NDVI IMAGERY

摘要

It is only by using the first collection of intelligence satellite imagery acquired by CORONA, that time series of NDVI imagery can go back for a time lapse of 48 years. This is an exceptionally long time period if not the longest, for which remote sensing imagery can be used to estimate land use change (LUCC), for specific regions on the globe. Essentially China and the former USSR can be documented using CORONA satellite data allowing a multi-temporal coverage of a time period of 48 years. Typical, - for many regions of the globe – is that a 50 year time span represents the principal time period in which many anthropogenic induced land use changes have taken place (from the early sixties). In this study we give an account of the LUCC which has taken place in the Xinjiang province in North-western China over the last 44 years. This province contains the longest inland water basin on the globe, e.g. that of the Tarim river and is a major cotton producer in China. We could demonstrate that over the last 44 years the river basin has undergone drastic land use changes.