Peatland area change in the southern Altay Mountains over the last twenty years based on GIS and RS analysis

doi:10.1007/s11707-014-0436-9

Front. Earth Sci.

2014, Vol. 8

Issue (4) : 558-563 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-014-0436-9

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Peatland area change in the southern Altay Mountains over the last twenty years based on GIS and RS analysis

Huan LI¹, Dingyi XU¹, Yan ZHAO²(

)

¹. MOE Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental System, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
². Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

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Abstract

Analyses results of total peatland area changes in the southern Altay Mountain region over the past 20 years are discussed in this paper. These analyses were based on remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS) studies. Possible control methods are evaluated by comparing these results to other regional records and climate data. The area of the peatland zones was calculated by overlaying a peatland layer of Landsat TM (Thematic Map) image constructed by using supervised classification with a layer of slope based on a digital elevation model (DEM). The results show that slope layer is crucial to improving the accuracy of peatland extracted from TM images. The peatland area of the Altay Mountains increased from 931.5 km² in 1990 to 977.7 km² in 2010. This trend is consistent with the climate change in this region, due in part to increasing temperatures and precipitation, suggesting possible climate controls on peatland expansion. The increase in the peatland area in the Altay Mountains over the last 20 years has been influenced by the westerlies. Alternatively, changes in the largest highland peatland area of the Zoige Basin, located in the eastern Tibetan Plateau have been influenced by the intensity of the Asian summer monsoons. In addition to increased temperatures, decreased precipitation in the Zoige Basin and increased precipitation in the Altay Mountains, due to varied patterns of atmospheric circulation, are the probable causes for driving the change differences in these two peatland areas.

Keywords RS image DEM image GIS analysis peatland area change the Altay Mountains

Corresponding Author(s): Yan ZHAO

Online First Date: 30 May 2014 Issue Date: 13 January 2015

Cite this article:

Huan LI,Dingyi XU,Yan ZHAO. Peatland area change in the southern Altay Mountains over the last twenty years based on GIS and RS analysis[J]. Front. Earth Sci., 2014, 8(4): 558-563.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/10.1007/s11707-014-0436-9
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/Y2014/V8/I4/558

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