Evaluation of Land Cover Changes in Karbala Governorate Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

Abstract

Evaluating the land cover changes is a critical issue for the process of environmental sustainability strategies. This study evaluated the landcover changes in Karbala Province during the last two decades using Landsat images based on the supervised maximum likelihood classification (MLC) method. The primary goal of this research is to demonstrate the landcover changes trend in Karbala Province in the metropolitan region during the last two decades. Land cover was classified into four categories using supervised classification using two satellite imagery. The first one is Landsat 7 for the date 2001 and Landsat 8 for the date 2021. The results showed a noticeable increase in the urban category, associated with a decrease in the water cover. Additionally, a significant expansion occurred in the urban category at the expense of agricultural lands and the groves category. This expansion has resulted in the unplanned growth of settlements and the difficulties that go with it. These are the primary negative consequences of this region's increasing urbanization.