• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.305-314
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• 2017

This study aimed to predict changes in forest area using a probability density function, in order to promote effective forest management in the area north of the civilian control line (known as the Minbuk area) in Korea. Time series analysis (2010 and 2016) of forest area using land cover maps and accessibility expressed by distance covariates (distance from buildings, roads, and civilian control line) was applied to a probability density function. In order to estimate the probability density function, mean and variance were calculated using three methods: area weight (AW), area rate weight (ARW), and sample area change rate weight (SRW). Forest area increases in regions with lower accessibility (i.e., greater distance) from buildings and roads, but no relationship with accessibility from the civilian control line was found. Estimation of forest area change using different distance covariates shows that SRW using distance from buildings provides the most accurate estimation, with around 0.98-fold difference from actual forest area change, and performs well in a Chi-Square test. Furthermore, estimation of forest area until 2028 using SRW and distance from buildings most closely replicates patterns of actual forest area changes, suggesting that estimation of future change could be possible using this method. The method allows investigation of the current status of land cover in the Minbuk area, as well as predictions of future changes in forest area that could be utilized in forest management planning and policymaking in the northern area.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2021

Rapid urbanization and population growth have caused substantial land use land cover (LULC) change in the Kathmandu valley. The lack of temporal and geographical data regarding LULC in the middle mountain region like Kathmandu has been challenging to assess the changes that have occurred. The purpose of this study is to investigate the changes in LULC in Chandragiri Municipality between 1996 and 2017 using geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing. Using Landsat imageries of 1996 and 2017, this study analyzed the LULC change over 21 years. The images were classified using the Maximum Likelihood classification method and post classified using the change detection technique in GIS. The result shows that severe land cover changes have occurred in the Forest (11.63%), Built-up areas (3.68%), Agriculture (-11.26%), Shrubland (-0.15%), and Bareland (-3.91%) in the region from 1996 to 2017. This paper highlights the use of GIS and remote sensing in understanding the changes in LULC in the south-west part of Kathmandu valley.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.121-135
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• 2014

Object-based classification methods provide a valid alternative to traditional pixel-based methods. This study reports the results of an object-based classification to examine land cover in the demilitarized zones(DMZs) of Inje-gun. We used land cover classes(7 classes for main category and 13 classes for sub-category) selected from the criteria by Korea Ministry of Environment. The average and standard deviation of the spectrum values, and homogeneity of GLCM were chosen to map land cover types in an hierarchical approach using the nearest neighborhood method. We then identified the distributional characteristics of land cover by considering 3 topographic characteristics (altitude, slope gradient, distance from the Southern Limited Line(SLL)) within the DMZs. The results showed that scale 72, shape 0.2, color 0.8, compactness 0.5 and smoothness 0.5 were the optimum weight values while scale, shape and color were most influenced parameters in image segmentation. The forests (92%) were main land cover type in the DMZs; the grassland(5%), the urban area (2%) and the forests (broadleaf forest: 44%, mixed forest: 42%, coniferous forest: 6%) also occupied mostly in land cover classes for sub-category. The results also showed that facilities and roads had higher density within 2 km from the SLL, while paddy, field and bare land were distributed largely outside 6 km from the SLL. In addition, there was apparent distinction in land cover by topographic characteristics. The forest had higher density at above altitude 600m and above slope gradient $30^{\circ}$ while agriculture, bare land and grass land were distributed mainly at below altitude 600m and below slope gradient $30^{\circ}$.

• Forest Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.181-191
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• 2018

This study was carried out in the teaching and research forest of the University of Dschang in Belabo, with the aim of analysing land-cover and land-use changes as well as carbon stocks dynamic. The databases used are composed of three Landsat satellite images (5TM of 1984, 7ETM + of 2000 and 8OLI of 2016), enhanced by field missions. Satellite images were processed using ENVI and ArcGIS software. Interview, focus group discussion methods and participatory mapping were used to identify the activities carried out by the local population. An inventory design consisting of four transects was used to measure dendrometric parameters and to identify land-use types. An estimation of carbon stocks in aboveground and underground woody biomass was made using allometric models based on non-destructive method. Dynamic of land-cover showed that the average annual rate of deforestation is 0.48%. The main activities at the base of this change are agriculture, house built-up and logging. Seven types of land-use were identified; adult secondary forests (64.10%), young secondary forests (7.54%), wetlands (7.39%), fallows (3.63%), savannahs (9.59%), cocoa farms (4.28%) and mixed crop farms (3.47%). Adult secondary forests had the highest amount of carbon ($250.75\;t\;C\;ha^{-1}$). This value has decreased by more than 60% for mixed crop farms ($94.67\;t\;C\;ha^{-1}$), showing the impact of agricultural activities on both forest cover and carbon stocks. Agroforestry systems that allow conservation and introduction of woody species should be encouraged as part of a participatory management strategy of this forest.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.34-44
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• 2017

Background: Monitoring terrestrial vegetation cover condition is important to evaluate its current condition and to identify potential vulnerabilities. Due to simplicity and low cost, point intercept method has been widely used in evaluating grassland surface and quantifying cover conditions. Field-based digital photography method is gaining popularity for the purpose of cover estimate, as it can reduce field time and enable additional analysis in the future. However, the caveats and uncertainty among field-based vegetation cover estimation methods is not well known, especially across a wide range of cover conditions. We compared cover estimates from point intercept and digital photography methods with varying sampling intensities (25, 49, and 100 points within an image), across 61 transects in typical steppe, forest steppe, and desert steppe in central Mongolia. We classified three photosynthetic groups of cover important to grassland ecosystem functioning: photosynthetic vegetation, non-photosynthetic vegetation, and bare soil. We also acquired normalized difference vegetation index from satellite image comparison with the field-based cover. Results: Photosynthetic vegetation estimates by point intercept method were correlated with normalized difference vegetation index, with improvement when non-photosynthetic vegetation was combined. For digital photography method, photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic vegetation estimates showed no correlation with normalized difference vegetation index, but combining of both showed moderate and significant correlation, which slightly increased with greater sampling intensity. Conclusions: Results imply that varying greenness is playing an important role in classification accuracy confusion. We suggest adopting measures to reduce observer bias and better distinguishing greenness levels in combination with multispectral indices to improve estimates on dry matter.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.98 no.6
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• pp.659-668
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• 2009

Time series data on forest resources and population over the period from 1927 to 2007 were constructed and analyzed in order to identify trends and characteristics of forest transition in Korea. Korean forest transition could be classified into three phases in terms of the average annual growing stock of forest; forest degradation period (1927-1952), forest stagnation period (1953-1972) and forest growth period (1973-2007). Over the past 80 years forest area decreased 0.05% each year. The decreasing rate was very low, especially considering rapid economic growth and increased population of Korea with over 60% of forest cover. Growing stock per hectare significantly increased from $5.6m^3$ in 1952 to $97.8m^3$ in 2007, or 17.5 times during 1952 to 2007. Despise of increasing population and rapid economic growth, in particular, growing stock per capita has increased from $1.7m^3$ in 1952 to $12.9m^3$ in 2005 and un-stocked forest area decreased from 3,315 thousand ha to 165 thousand ha during the same period. In this regard, Korea represents a case of modern forest growth. Among 56 countries with more than 10 million of population and 10% or more of forest cover over the period 1990 to 2005, Korea is classified as a country which has high forest cover but low deforestation rate. Also, Korea is the only developing country which has 50% or more of forest cover and shows a below average deforestation rate.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.101 no.3
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• pp.374-380
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• 2012

The k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) technique is popularly applied to assess forest resources at the county level and to provide its spatial information by combining large area forest inventory data and remote sensing data. In this study, two approaches such as distance-weighting and stratification of training dataset, were compared to improve kNN-based forest growing stock estimates. When compared with five distance weights (0 to 2 by 0.5), the accuracy of kNN-based estimates was very similar ranged ${\pm}0.6m^3/ha$ in mean deviation. The training dataset were stratified by horizontal reference area (HRA) and forest cover type, which were applied by separately and combined. Even though the accuracy of estimates by combining forest cover type and HRA- 100 km was slightly improved, that by forest cover type was more efficient with sufficient number of training data. The mean of forest growing stock based kNN with HRA-100 and stratification by forest cover type when k=7 were somewhat underestimated ($5m^3/ha$) compared to statistical yearbook of forestry at 2011.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.137-151
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• 2004

Many of today's environmental problems are regional in scope and their effects overlap and interact. The purpose of this paper is to developed a simple method for an integrated assessment of environmental conditions across the Mid-Nakdong River Region, by combining data on land use, impervious cover, roads, streams, riparian areas, forest patches, population, pollutant loadings, soil erosion and topography. A cluster analysis was used to identify groups of sub-watersheds with similar environmental characteristics. The mean value for each group was used to find watershed that may be more vulnerable to future environmental degradation. Watersheds in cluster I and II had high amount of forest, but the amount of riparian vegetation was low. Watersheds in cluster III, which located in the middle Geumho River and the main course of Nakdong River, had a greater proportion of their agriculture, a greater proportion of agriculture on steep slopes, and less forest adjacent to streams. Watersheds in cluster IV and V were in the most urbanized areas of the region. The principal adverse impacts for watersheds in this group were high scores for urban area, impervious cover, pollutant loadings, population density, forest fragmentation, and low amounts of forest and riparian forest cover. Notwithstanding the exploratory nature of cluster analysis, it appears to be a useful tool for grouping watersheds with similar environmental characteristics.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.34 no.6_1
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• pp.1025-1032
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• 2018

Snow Cover is a form of precipitation that is defined by snow on the surface and is the single largest component of the cryosphere that plays an important role in maintaining the energy balance between the earth's surface and the atmosphere. It affects the regulation of the Earth's surface temperature. However, since snow cover is mainly distributed in area where human access is difficult, snow cover detection using satellites is actively performed, and snow cover detection in forest area is an important process as well as distinguishing between cloud and snow. In this study, we applied the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to the geostationary satellites for the snow detection of forest area in existing polar orbit satellites. On the rest of the forest area, the snow cover detection using $R_{1.61{\mu}m}$ anomaly technique and NDSI was performed. As a result of the indirect validation using the snow cover data and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer (VIIRS) snow cover data, the probability of detection (POD) was 99.95 % and the False Alarm Ratio (FAR) was 16.63 %. We also performed qualitative validation using the Himawari-8 Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) RGB image. The result showed that the areas detected by the VIIRS Snow Cover miss pixel are mixed with the area detected by the research false pixel.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.279-290
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• 2018

The importance of monitoring and assessing the status of urban forests in the aspect of urban forest management is emerging as urban forest edges increase due to urbanization and human impacts. The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of vegetation condition of urban forest edge that is affected by different land cover types using $NDVI_{max}$ images derived from FSDAF (Flexible Spatio-temporal DAta Fusion). Among 4 land cover types,roads had the greatest effect on the forest edge, especially up to 30m, and it was found to affect up to 90m in Seoul urban forest. It was also found that $NDVI_{max}$ increased with distance away from the forest edge. The results of this study are expected to be useful for assessing the effects of land cover types and land cover change on forest edges in terms of urban forest monitoring and urban forest management.