Land Use and Land Cover Analysis of Jharkhand Using Satellite Remote Sensing

Abstract

IRS P6 LISS III data was used to delineate different land use/land cover classes of Jharkhand using visual interpretation technique. Tone and texture were found most important for interpretation of different objects. A total of 42 classes of different land use/land cover categories were interpreted. Agricultural land with current fallow and forest areas dominated the landscape of Jharkhand by occupying 49% and 30% of total geographical area, respectively. Built-up (urban and rural) with industrial and mining area occupied 5% of total geographical area. Wasteland and forest scrub occupied 9% and 5% of total geographical area. The study concluded that forest scrub and open scrub classes of forest and wasteland category can be taken under forest plantation to increase the area under forest cover. Agriculture production may be increased by increasing rabi crop production through enhanced irrigation facilities by construction of dams and rain water harvesting. Land use/land cover map generated in the present study will be useful for decision makers, planners, academicians and researchers.

Keywords: LISS III, LULC, visual interpretation, kharif crop, forest cover