The use of Landsat Satellite Imagery in Mapping the Walnut Forest Area changes.

Abstract

The main objective of this research is defining the walnut tree forests boundaries and other land use areas in the particular region of the country by using Landsat satellite imagery. Walnut forests occupy about 631 thousand hectares of the land they are the largest walnut forests on the planet. These forests are situated in the Arstanbap region, western Tien-Shan Mountains at the altitude from 1000m to 2200m. Besides walnut trees, there are other trees and shrubberies in these forests. This research is needed to investigate the actual forest change and environmental impact of the global warming as well as economical activities of the local communities. The importance of walnut forests of Kyrgyzstan is very high because of the ecological value of these relict walnut forests in the national and global level as natural world heritage. All forested areas in the country have environmental, hygienic, health and other protective functions according to the National Forest Code. The Physiological state of forests is largely determined by the content of chlorophyll and moisture level of the green fractions of vegetation. Currently, the walnut forests are experiencing a negative impact from agriculture, illegal logging and climate impact. Application of the multispectral and mutli-temporal series of Landsat imagery is one of the most efficient technologies for the long term environmental studies and analysis. This research has investigated the relative values obtained based on spectral indices as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), defined by the spectral reflection in the visible, near and mid-infrared spectral ranges. There are a number of changes in the walnut forest areas, identified within the research study.