ASSESSMENT OF LAND USE AND LAND COVER CHANGE DETECTION BY USING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES IN THE COASTAL DESERTS, SOUTH OF IRAN

Abstract. Land use/land cover (LULC) changes have become a central issue in current global change and sustainability research. Due to the large expanse of land change detection by the traditional methods is not sufficient and efficient; therefore, using of new methods such as remote sensing technology is necessary and vital This study evaluates LULC change in chabahar and konarak Coastal deserts, located in south of sistan and baluchestan province from 1988 to 2018 using Landsat images. Maximum likelihood classification were used to develop LULC maps. The change detection was executed using post-classification comparison and GIS. Then, taking ground truth data, the classified maps accuracy were assessed by calculating the Kappa coefficient and overall accuracy. The results for the time period of 1988–2018 are presented. Based on the results of the 30-year time period, vegetation has been decreased in area while urban areas have been developed. The area of saline and sandy lands has also increased.