Multi-Temporal Arable Land Monitoring in Arid Region of Northwest China Using a New Extraction Index

Xinyang Yu, Younggu Her, Xicun Zhu, Changhe Lu and Xuefei Li
Additional contact information
Xinyang Yu: College of Resources and Environment, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an 271018, China
Younggu Her: Tropical Research and Education Center, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Homestead, FL 33031, USA
Xicun Zhu: College of Resources and Environment, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an 271018, China
Changhe Lu: Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xuefei Li: Linyi Natural Resources Development Service Center, Linyi 276000, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: Development of a high-accuracy method to extract arable land using effective data sources is crucial to detect and monitor arable land dynamics, servicing land protection and sustainable development. In this study, a new arable land extraction index (ALEI) based on spectral analysis was proposed, examined by ground truth data, and then applied to the Hexi Corridor in northwest China. The arable land and its change patterns during 1990–2020 were extracted and identified using 40 Landsat TM/OLI images acquired in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020. The results demonstrated that the proposed method can distinguish arable land areas accurately, with the User’s (Producer’s) accuracy and overall accuracy (kappa coefficient) exceeding 0.90 (0.88) and 0.89 (0.87), respectively. The mean relative error calculated using field survey data obtained in 2012 and 2020 was 0.169 and 0.191, respectively, indicating the feasibility of the ALEI method in arable land extracting. The study found that arable land area in the Hexi Corridor was 13217.58 km 2 in 2020, significantly increased by 25.33% compared to that in 1990. At 10-year intervals, the arable land experienced different change patterns. The study results indicate that ALEI index is a promising tool used to effectively extract arable land in the arid area.

Keywords: arable land extraction index; arid region; Landsat image; Infrared band; Shortwave band; Hexi Corridor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/5274/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/5274/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:9:p:5274-:d:550841

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().