Geospatial Analysis of LULC in the Srinagar Region of Jammu and Kashmir using Sentinel-2 Data

Abstract

Geospatial analysis based LULC mapping finds great utility in Himalyan region in order to carry proper assessment, evaluation and sustainable management of the existing resources.  With the aid of remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS), the current study on LULC mapping was conducted in district Srinagar of Jammu and Kashmir for the year 2022. European Space Agency (ESA) based Sentinel-2 satellite was used as a data source. By using the technique of visual image interpretation, the study area was demarcated into 11 LULC classes viz, agriculture, forest, forest scrub, built-up, TOF, grassland, wasteland, waterbody, wetland, snow and horticulture. The findings of the study revealed that from the delineated LULC classes highest percentage (19.61%) of area was covered by forest and least (2.17%) was covered by wetland. Moreover, the values obtained for overall classification accuracy and kappa statistics were 89.09% and 0.88 respectively. Due to increasing population and urbanisation some of the important LULC classes like wetland, agriculture etc have been encroached thereby disturbing the overall ecological balance. Therefore, findings of the current study might be useful in planning and demarcating the area where we can develop green infrastructure which might be fruitful in achieving the sustainable management goals.