Pixel-based land transformation study in parts of Rivers, Abia and Akwa Ibom States, Nigeria
Godwill Tamunobiekiri Pepple, Lawrence HartThe geospatial technology remains the essential tool for environmental studies, monitoring and mapping. Since land transformation is locational based such land use and land cover (LULC) changes over time could be affected another, hence the need for effective monitoring of these changing land cover types becomes relevant. This study is aimed at Pixel based land transformation study in parts of Rivers, Abia and Akwa Ibom States using medium resolution satellite datasets. For this purpose, land use classification and change detection mapping method were adopted using LANDSAT datasets from two different sensors were processed using spatial analysis tool of resampling, general enhancement, classification and post classification overlay to map the pattern and extent of land transformation for the study area as well as to determine the magnitude of seasonal epochal changes between December 2003 and January 2022. A supervised LULC classification for the studied area using seven classes’ namely built-up, bare earth, water body, marine vegetation, other vegetation, plantation and void. A pixel-based cross tabulation was extracted from LULC class pairings for both dates. The kappa coefficients; 0.9824 and 0.9997 for both datasets shows classes that have increased from 2003 to 2022 such as built-up areas 476.00km2 to 820.67 km2 ; plantation from 1263.90km2 to 4026.55 km2 ; water body from 3187.14 km2 to 3544.87 km2 and void from 118.56 km2 to 128.60 km2 . Similarly, others classes experienced continuous shrinkage such as other vegetation from 2921.18km2 to 763.05km2 ; marine vegetation from 3353.78km2 to 2110.98km2 ; bare earth from 87.69sq.km to 23.53km2 . From the epochal analyses of deliverables such as land use land cover, it could be inferred that Port Harcourt capital city and Aba metropolis are experiencing radial urban growth over a period of 18 years. However, urban growth should be adequately monitored, mitigating the effect of urbanizing more rural lands.