Application of remote sensing for assessing forest cover conditions of Aurangabad, (MS), India

Abstract

The Remote Sensing has been playing an important role in mapping spatial and temporal behavior of forest cover. The mapping results are largely dependent on the user’s preferences because it is location and application specific. The study deals with the use of RS techniques to know the present status of forest area undertaken in the Gautala Wildlife Sanctuary, and Bird Sanctuary, Aurangabad region. Forest cover is depleting very fast due to the conversion of forest region into agricultural or other land use. The forest cover estimation of these protected areas has been derived from forest cover map generated from LISS III satellite images of the year 1997 and 2015 using digital image classification and processing approach. The temperature of the Aurangabad district is increasing and rainfall is reducing which indicates that deforestation can be one of the associated causes for it. The classification result shows that there is a significant conversion, loss in forest cover.