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Object-Based Analysis of Multispectral RS Data and GIS for Detection of Climate Change Impact on the Karakoram Range Northern Pakistan



Author(s)

Waquar Ul Hassan Chaudhary
Åke Sivertun

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DOI:10.17265/2162-5298/2015.06.005

Department of Tema, Linköping University, Linköping 58183, Sweden
Department of MVI/MTA, Swedish Defence University, Stockholm 11593, Sweden

Changing climate has a great impact on northern area of Pakistan’s environment and is more prone to environmental changes impacts than rest of the country due to its high elevation. However, melting glaciers effect not only the local environment but also the whole country with frequent and heavy floods. Remote sensing (RS) from Satellites and Airplanes used in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are technologies that can aid in understanding the on-going environmental processes. Furthermore, help researchers to observe, understand, forecast and suggest response to changes that occur. It can be natural disasters or man-made disasters and human induced factors. Still analysis accuracy issues play a vital role for the formulation of any strategy. To achieve better results, object based analysis methods have been tested. Various algorithms are developed by the analysts to calculate the magnitude of land cover changes. However, they must be evaluated for each environment that is under observation as mountainous areas. Here were object-based methods evaluated in comparison with pixel based. Landslides, soil moisture, soil permeability, snow cover and vegetation cover can be effectively monitored by those methods.

Geographical information systems, spatial data analysis, object-based analysis of remote sensing data, glacier degradation in Karakoram, vegetation and snow cover.