MONITORING LAND USE/LAND COVER CHANGE AROUND A PLAIN RESERVOIR ALONG SOUTH-NORTH WATER TRANSFER PROJECT-EASTERN ROUTE, CHINA

The implementation of the South North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP)-Eastern Route triggered construction of new reservoirs and expansion of old reservoirs that inevitably changed land use/land cover in surrounding areas. Taking the Shuangwangcheng (SWC) plain reservoir as a case study, this study aimed to resolve two challenges in land use/land cover change (LUCC) detection: (i) limited classification capabilities with medium-resolution remote sensing images, and (ii) the "salt and pepper" phenomenon observed in classification maps created using traditional pixel-based classification methods. The image fusion algorithm, which combined the nonsubsampled contourlet transform and generalized intensity-hue-saturation (NSCT-GIBS), and object-oriented image classification were utilized to generate high-quality classification maps. Post-classification comparisons were used to obtain LUCC patterns during five periods between 2000 and 2013. The results indicated that significant changes occurred in the SWC reservoir area, including clear increases in the reservoir, rural settlement, and canal classes, but decreases in the salt field class. LUCC was most rapid immediately before and after the SWC reservoir construction. Due to its expansion in August 2010, the SWC reservoir showed the highest land use dynamic degree (LUDD; 16.01%) between 2009 and 2011. Rural settlements increased continuously from 2003 to 2013, and had the highest LUDD (4.41%) between 2011 and 2013, reflecting population migration following the SWC reservoir construction.