Spatiotemporal Change in the Lulc (Landuse/Landcover) Characteristics of Tekirdag Province Based on the Corine (Thrace, Turkey)

Abstract

Detection and monitoring of the LULC (landuse/landcover) characteristics are among the most important practices to be carried out for the preservation of limited natural resources to achieve a more influent and sustainable land management. Among various techniques based on which LULC is classified, the most commonly used method is the CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment). This specific system, which has been in use across the EU (European Union) countries, has lately been adopted also by Turkey, which progressed notably towards becoming an EU member in recent years. The most important characteristic of the CORINE is that the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and RS (Remote Sensing) techniques are used during its application to detect the changes that occurred at LULC classes in Tekirdag province, which were specified according to the CORINE. In this study, we examined changes that occurred in the last 15 years (2000-2015), along with their causes and effects. Study materials that consist of topographic maps and Landsat satellite images were evaluated with supervised classification technique using the maximum likelihood approach and were analyzed using post classification change detection method. It was ultimately found that Tekirdag province has passed through a significant rate of LULC changes in the last 15 years. In Tekirdag province where changes occurred on 114.7 km(2) area, it was found out that the most obvious change was experienced between the continuous urban fabric and discontinuous urban fabric classes.