Remote Sensing Studies of China’s Urban and Rural Environment

Roy Welch
Special Visiting Professor
Environmental Sciences
University of Tsukuba
Ibaraki 305, Japan

Department of Geography
University of Gerogia
Athens, Ga. 30602
U.S.A

Abstract

Studies of urban population, agriculture and land use have been performed from both analog and digital Landsat data of China. Regression models developed from population (P) data and urban area (A) measurement on Landsat images are of the form P = aAb and provide insights into the success of Chinese urban planning policies for cities with populations of 500,000 to 2,000,000 people. Agricultural land use in Northeast China was mapped from 27 Landsat scenes recorded between 1972 and 1976. Approximately 15,300 km2 of rangeland and wetland in the Nun River Basin have been converted to new agricultural land. These new lands are characterized by large geometric field patterns designed to accommodate mechanized farming practices. Principal crops include soybeans, corn/millet and wheat. In all of these studies the principal factor limiting the use of satellite remote sensing for environmental studies is spatial resolution. An example of the comparative studies is resolution of Landsaat-3 MSS and RBV image data of Beijing, China is used to illustrate this point.