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Title: Landsat sattelite multi-spectral image classification of land cover and land use changes for GIS-based urbanization analysis in irrigation districts of lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas

Author
item Huang, Yanbo
item FIPPS, GUY - Texas A&M University
item LACEY, RON - Texas A&M University
item Thomson, Steven

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Remote Sensing (JARS)
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/30/2011
Publication Date: 8/19/2011
Citation: Huang, Y., Fipps, G., Lacey, R., Thomson, S.J. 2011. Landsat sattelite multi-spectral image classification of land cover and land use changes for GIS-based urbanization analysis in irrigation districts of lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Journal of Applied Remote Sensing (JARS). 2(1):27-36.

Interpretive Summary: Rapid increase of population and urban growth significantly influence the operation and management of irrigation districts in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. This study evaluated NASA’s Landsat satellite multi-spectral imagery to provide information for urbanization analysis in irrigation districts. The Landsat images in 2003 and 1993 were used to study the change of land cover and use in the Hidalgo, Cameron, and Willacy Counties in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Based on image classification and analysis, the results indicate that, on average, over the ten years, in the three counties, the urbanization increased drastically at 46% while the irrigation land decreased moderately at 7.6%. The urbanization information in five most urbanized irrigation districts within the region was derived from the county-level image analysis. The information is useful for more studies to reslove the conflicts between urbanization and irrigation network development.

Technical Abstract: The Lower Rio Grande Valley in the south of Texas is experiencing rapid increase of population to bring up urban growth that continues influencing on the irrigation districts in the region. This study evaluated the Landsat satellite multi-spectral imagery to provide information for GIS-based urbanization analysis in irrigation districts. Three image scenes of ETM+ (2003) and TM (1993) multi-spectral image data were used to cover the Hidalgo, Cameron, and Willacy Counties in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The images were classified in terms of land cover land use categories, and the classified data were overlaid on GIS layout to visualize urbanization in irrigation districts. The accuracy assessment of the image classifications at county level indicated that the overall accuracies were over 75%. For the most concerned classes, irrigated land and urban, all the producer’s and user’s accuracies in 1993 were over 80%, and all the accuracies in 2003 were over 70%. Based on the image classifications, the land cover land use changes over the ten years in the three counties were estimated. On average, over the ten years, in the three counties, the urbanization increased drastically at 46% while the irrigation land decreased moderately at 7.6%. Specifically in Hidalgo County the urbanization increased 59.7% and irrigated land decreased 10.2%, in Cameron County the urbanization increased 52.8% and irrigated land decreased 6.7%, and in Willacy County the urbanization increased 25.7% and the irrigated land decreased 5.9%. Therefore, in overall, with the increase of urbanization the irrigated land decreases in the region. The urbanization information in the five most urbanized irrigation districts within the region was derived from the county-level image classifications. The information will be helpful for more detailed study to reveal the conflicts between urbanization and irrigation network development.