Modeling the Spatio-temporal dynamics and evolution of land use and land cover (1984–2015) using remote sensing and GIS in Raya, Northern Ethiopia

This study models the spatio-temporal dynamics, patterns, and evolution of land use and land cover (LULC) (1984–2015) using remote sensing and GIS supported by in-suit measurements in Raya, Northern Ethiopia. Landsat thematic mapper (TM), and operational land imager (OLI) path 168/169 and row 051/52 were acquired from the United States Geological Survey Landsat archive. All necessary image pre-processing techniques were applied to remove the distortions due to sensors. Eight major LULC types based on a supervised image classification and maximum likelihood decision rule were identified. Post-classification change detection method was also applied to detect the dynamics in LULC. Significant change in forestland, shrub/bush land, built-up area, grassland, cropland, barren land, and floodplain areas were observed over the period 1984–2015. Considerable losses were observed in grasslands (36.9%), water body (8.7%), and floodplain areas (74.4%), while other LULC types increased. This explains why the study area is frequently affected by drought and other related disasters. An overall accuracy of 88.5, 86.5 and 90.5% were observed for the 1984, 1995 and 2015 LULC, respectively. The overall Kappa coefficient of 0.87, 0.85, and 0.90 were also observed for the same periods. Besides, the Pearson pairwise correlation matrix among the 1984–1995, 1995–2015 and 1984–2015 LULC shows positive and strong correlation (r = 0.916, r = 0.908, r = 0.914) at p < 0.005 significance level. Therefore, there is no much difference in identifying LULC types using TM and OLI products. This study is crucial to implement scientific land use policies and strategies in the study area. © 2017, Springer International Publishing AG.