Analysis of function of
forest using artificial satellite data and geographical information
Masahiro Setojima, Yoko Hirose
, Ken-ichi Shibata Kokusai Kogyo Co. Ltd. 3-6-1 Asahgaoka,
Hino-shi, Tokyo 191 Japan
Abstract In
recent years, there is a nation-wide phenomenon in Japan that green cover
of land is destroyed and living environment in urban areas is deteriorated
along with the development of cities. To prevent such tendency, many
measures have been taken for the promotion of greenery conservation tree
planting plan in urban areas, it is important to grasp the actual state of
greenery of cities and to analyze the function of such green areas. Forest
has variety of function and they are classified into (1) function to
prevent disaster and conserve the land, (2) function relation to living
environment, (3) function to conserve the natural ecology (4) cultural
function, (5) function relating to biological index and (6) educational
function. In this report, we took up, as an example, the forests in
greater Sapporo area which is the central city on north part of Japan, and
tried to analyze the present state of forest distribution and the
functi9on of forest from macro view point using the artificial satellite
data and geographical information.
Introduction Along
with the rapid advancement of urbanization and deterioration of living
environment in Japan in recent years, there have arisen increasingly
strong voices to seek for comfortable and well off life in urban living
environment. Under such circumstances, it is considered urgent to conserve
and arrange better environment for suburban forest to enhance the
recognition for the roles of forest adjacent to cities as well as to
improve the environment. In proceeding with the maintenance ad
conservation of forest, it is necessary to grasp the actual state of
forest over the wide with consistent accuracy from uniformed viewpoint,
and to perform the time sequential monitoring continuously.
Having
such situation as the background, this paper introduces the functional
analysis made on suburban forests of cities by using remote sensing data
and each kind of geographical information in an attempt to promote the
comprehensive green land preservation measures including the conservation
of forests.
The function of forests Suburban forests as
well as urban forests have variety of functions. The forest id formed by
(1) topographic feature, geological feature, soil, shape of slope, slope
aspect, and (2) its direct composing elements of water, atmosphere,
animals and plants. Quality/features and quantity of them, mutually
supplementing each other, give effects tot eh adjacent cities. Many
functions have been observed to forest (or green land), and they can be
classified systematically from various standpoints.
- Environment conservation function: The forest has function to
maintain and improve the healthy environment of cities such as to
provide purification of atmosphere, mitigation of climate change, and
preservation of sunshine and ventilation, giving comfort and relaxing to
the human life.
- Recreational function : the forest (or green land) provides
indispensable outdoor space for recreation for the residents of cities.
- Disaster prevention function ; The disaster prevention function is
further sub divided in to land conservation function such as prevention
of degradation and land slide, prevention of flooding and preservation
of water-head, mitigation function to absorb noise, vibration and
atmospheric pollution, and a function to prevent the spread of fire and
preserve the shelter at the time of disaster.
- Productive function : It also has a function to provide forestry
products or agricultural products at the suburbs of city.
- Function to prevent the expansion of city : It can prevent the
disordered expansion and lead to the healthy development of cities.
- Scenic function : The scenic function is very significant to build
up comfortable and relaxing city environment. Especially in case of
suburban forest, it has an important function to constitute the near
views and far views of urban scape.
Subject area of
investigation In present study, we selected and made analysis on
Sapporo City which is the central city in north part of Japan (fig.1).
Sapporo is the largest city following Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, etc and has
the most abundant green among these large cities. The urban district
spreads over the plain land, and the forest area called Satoyama is
located as if to surround the. The forests in Satoyama its located as if
to surround the city. The forests in Satoyama area hold important position
as the green are abutting on city playing an important role in forming the
full-of-green of Sapporo city.
Fig. 1 Studt areaThe
data used for the study
- MSS CCT (PATH 116 -Row 030 , Aug.29.1972 )
TM CCT (PATH 108 -ROW
030 , Sep.11.1985 )
- Altitude data file (1982), vegetation data file (1984),
River
basin data file (1984), geological map (1/50,000, 1946-1950), Soil
map (1/200,000,1975) Method of analysisThe analysis
procedures are as shown in fig.2.
- Grasping of regional characteristics of study area
For the
purpose to grasp the regional characteristics of study, we made land
cover classification using LANDSAT TM data, and grasped present state of
distribution and secular change of the forest. We also grasped the
geographical characteristics by collecting data of topography, geology,
soil and climate.
- Study on the functions to be analyzed and establishment of
analysis standard
We discussed the functions to be analyzed in
this study based on the present state of forest and regional
characteristics grasped in (1) above. We also established the analysis
standard referring to past analyses already performed in Japan.
- Construction of image database
The basic data of for
analysis were converted into image database of the uniformed pixel size
100m x 100m, and stored into disk. The map data such as geological map
and soil map were digitized by using scanner. The data field of altitude
data, vegetation data and river basin data were converted into image by
calculation and compiled in a database. The topographic data were
analyzed by using altitude data, and slope aspect, slope, relief volume
were obtained as image data. The images of present state of forest
obtained from TM data were re-sampled in a manner so that the pixel size
would be 100m x 100m and compiled in a database.
- Analysis of forest function
Analysis of forest function
was performed by the overlay of images based on the analysis standard.
The analysis results were compared and checked with the present, state
and if contradiction was found thereon, the analysis standard was
reviewed, and analysis was performed again.
- Grasp of forest characteristics
The characteristics of
forests around Sapporo city were grasped by the forest function
individually grasped as well as by comprehensive analysis.
Fig. 2 Method of
analysisResults of analysis
- Functions subject to analysis
We discussed the functions
to be analysed based on the consideration that the forests around
Sapporo city which are the study subject of this report had the function
of both urban Greenland and suburban forest. The function which were
analyzed were are as follows :
- Land conservation function ... Mountain disaster prevention
function, flood prevention function, water head preservation function.
- Environment conservation function ... function o mitigate climate
conditions, function as atmospheric pollution index, wind arresting
function, animal ecology conservation function, plant ecology
conservation function.
- Recreational function.
- Scenic function.
- Regional characteristics of suburban forest of
Sapporo.
The present state and secular change of Sapporo suburban
forest were grasped by the analysis using LANDSAT data geographical
information of two different times (See photo 1 and photo 2). Nearly 50%
of suburban forest of Sapporo city are secondary forest of broadleaf
trees, and about 15% is aforesaid trees. Natural woods are hardly seen.
Toyohira River runs across almost center of this forest area. The
mountain area with the altitude of 600-800m at the north side of the
river is the andesite belt with acute relieves, and south side of the
river is relatively gradual hill land mainly composed of Tuff.
- Result of analysis on forest area
Table 1 shows the
summation result of analyzed area.
- As for land conservation function, the analysis was made on the
functions such as mountain disaster prevention, flood prevention and
water-head preservation etc (see photo 3). Land and sand slide were
mainly considered as mountain disaster. As a result, the mountain
disaster prevention function was observed to be high at the north side
forest where the land shape is more acute. As for flood prevention
function, the forest at the upstream of river were observed to have
higher function. The water head Preservation function was failry high
all over the suburban forest area, indicating that it is precious
water reservoir for Sapporo city.
- In the environment conservation function, distance form urban area
or road was taken as an important factor for analysis (see photo4). As
the majority of Sapporo suburban forest is broad leaf tress which have
relatively large influence for mitigation of climate condition and as
the index of atmospheric pollution, the environment conservation
function tended to be high in general.
- As a result of analysis, the recreational function was high all
over the suburban areas of Sapporo City, indicating that they are
precious recreational resources for that area.
- The analysis of scenic function was performed through the analysis
of visible and invisible area using DTM, and taking visibility as the
factor (see photo 6). As a result the forests were clearly identified
to which the highest consideration should be pain in urban development
from the view point of scenic view.
Table 1. Summation of study area (the function is "high")
Function/ basin no. |
Land conservation function |
Environment conservation function |
Recreational function |
Scenic function |
Mountain disaster prevention function |
Flood preservation function |
Waterhead prevention function |
Climate condition mitigation function |
Atmospheric pollution index |
Wind arresting function |
1 |
4039 |
24.1 |
134 |
8.0 |
5892 |
49.0 |
4663 |
78.5 |
4734 |
79.4 |
2084 |
17.3 |
10,392 |
86.5 |
156 |
1.3 |
2 |
44 |
6.3 |
5 |
0.7 |
226 |
64.6 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
63.6 |
103 |
29.4 |
350 |
100.0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
374 |
9.8 |
1123 |
29.3 |
1647 |
51.6 |
1080 |
77.0 |
1109 |
79.0 |
574 |
18.0 |
3053 |
95.7 |
155 |
4.9 |
4 |
35 |
3.3 |
294 |
27.8 |
64 |
6.8 |
771 |
82.9 |
772 |
83.0 |
30 |
3.3 |
930 |
100.0 |
280 |
30.1 |
5 |
703 |
21.6 |
931 |
28.0 |
1236 |
52.5 |
1274 |
87.2 |
1274 |
88.7 |
746 |
31.6 |
2355 |
99.5 |
425 |
18.0 | Summary
- In this study, forest function was analysed from a macro view point
using LANDSAT data and each kind of geographical information.
- As the data used for the analysis was huge in quantity, the forest
distribution data obtained by automatic classification of LANDSAT data
as well as geographical information were compiled into database. As a
result, it became easy to overlay the images each other according to
each kind of functions. Consequently, ti was possible to anlayse the
images basing on the analysis standard complying with the regional
situation of study area, to correct the standard if necessary, and to
perform the analysis basing on the standard best suitable for the area.
- In the future it is considered necessary to make analysis from the
view points which are nearer to the earth to rationally perform the
conservation and utilization of forests basing on the data obtained by
present study.
Bibliography
- Forestry Agency (19760: Guidelines for Investigation on Forest by
its Function.
- Sapporo City (1983) : Report on Sapporo City Forest Environment
conservation Study.
- Setojima, Akamatsu, Oyama, Shibata (1987) ; Functional analysis of
Urban Green Land Using SPOT data and Geographic information Academic
Lecture Meeting of Japan Society photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.
- Setojima, Hirose, Shimohirao, Kadotani (1988) : Extraction of urban
Green Land by Overlaying TM data and geographic information, proceedings
of annual, academic lecture Meeting of Japan society Photogramemtry and
Remote Sensing.
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