Mapping and Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Land-use and Land-cover Change Based on the USGS and NASA Platformsfrom MCD12Q1Landsat Imagery: A Case Study of Kinshasa, DR Congo

Abstract

Kinshasa is a city with very significant urban growth. It is observed that this urban growth is concentrated in a weak area, which requires control and direction of urban expansion. To do this, it is important to understand the dynamics of cover change andland use over time. To do this, we downloaded Landsat images from the MODIS Land Cover Type Product (MCD12Q1) from 2001 to 2022, with a classification of these images based on remote sensing indices that we processed using geographic information system tools.We extracted the following classes: Evergreen Broadleaf Forests, Deciduous Broadleaf Forests, Mixed Forests, Closed Shrublands, Woody Savannas, Savannas, Grasslands, Permanent Wetlands, Croplands, Urban and Built-up Lands, Cropland/Natural Vegetation Mosaics,Barren and Water Bodies. We calculated the percentage of coverage of the classestaking into account intervalsof 3 years (7 intervals in total)by studying the relationship between the evolution curves of these classes, but also,we establishedthe relationship existing between the dynamics of these classes over time using the chord diagram. It has been observed that certain classes vary depending on others over time.