Jiaozhou Bay is the largest bay-type coastal wetland with high biodiversity in Shandong Peninsula. In recent years, the wetland of Jiaozhou Bay has been reduced dramatically due to urban expansion. It is significant to study the characteristics and causes of the wetland changes in the past 40 years for the rational exploitation and sustainable development of coastal wetland resources. The types, spatial distribution, and area information of the wetland from 1983 to 2019 are obtained by artificial visual interpretation and supervised classification using ten Landsat remote sensing images, assisted by Google images. The research analyzes the conversion of land use types and the change rule of landscape pattern in the wetland, as well as the driving forces of the wetland evolution and the uncertainty factors affecting the analysis results. The results indicate that the wetland area shows an overall decreasing trend from 1983 to 2019, 77% of which are converted into nonwetland. The wetland area increases initially, followed by a decrease from 1990 to 2000, but then continues to decrease slowly from 2000 to 2019. There are many types of land use changes from coastal tidal flats to other land use types such as construction land or pond, and the landscape pattern has been gradually fragmented. The continuous increase in temperature is the main natural cause for the degradation of the wetland. Population factor is the most important driving force for the change of the wetland. The main uncertain factors affecting the analysis results are the capture time of remote sensing image, tidal level correction, wetland classification system, and method. The results provide a basis for the decision-making of wetland protection. The quantitative data will provide a reference for the construction of a multiyear wetland dataset in Jiaozhou Bay.
