Abstract:
Focusing on the ten year’s mangroves cover change analysis of Kharo Chann taluka,
Indus Delta, this study contributed for understanding the changes in distribution and total area of
mangroves. Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) techniques were used to assess the ecological impact of
flooding on mangroves growth/change. Object based image analysis being most recent and advanced
classification technique was adopted to quantify the density cover of the mangrove’s spread. Multitemporal (2001 and 2011) images of Terra (ASTER) satellite were used to analyze the extent of
mangrove cover, various algorithms were incorporated for hierarchical rule set classification. An
increase of 2,568 ha in mangroves, particularly in Avicenna marina was observed in this study.
Accuracy of the developed forest cover maps was 92.7 % with kappa value of 0.88. Validation of the
results was done by ground truthing and an increasing trend in the mangroves from the last 3 to 4 years
was seen during analysis. This increase was attributed to plantation activities and natural regeneration
as well which was mainly due to the increase in the fresh water flow, downstream from Kotri barrage
through floods.
