Assessing the suitability of sentinel-2 data for land use and land

cover classification in Kabul River Basin

ABSTRACT
Accurate information on land use and land cover (LULC) helps in efficient management of
natural resources particularly in the areas where LULC and socio-economic status quickly
changes. LULC mapping requires updated and accurate information at a resolution that fits farm
settings. For the purpose of achieving good results mapping at 10 m resolution was performed.
The Kabul river basin (KRB) is a data scarce basin having limited ground information. The
Sentinel-2 Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data for three years was used for
the mapping and identification of different LULC. Unsupervised classification was performed
for LULC classification in KRB. The unsupervised classification was further refined with
supervised classification. For checking the accuracy of mapping, the ground truthing procedure
was carried out within the basin and error matrix was plotted. Various crops were then
determined. The resulting maps were compared with secondary data for further accuracy
assessment. LULC maps for KRB were developed for the year 2016, 2017 and 2018. The study
provided the insight to develop new policies regarding land and water management.

Name of the Student : Ihsan Ullah

Registration Number : 2013-ag-4448
Name of Supervisor : Dr. Muhammad Jehanzeb Masud Cheema

SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE
Name of Supervisor : Dr. M. Jehanzeb Masud Cheema
Name of Member : Prof. Dr. Muhammad Arshad
Name of Member : Dr. Ahsan Latif
INTRODUCTION
Afghanistan is a mountainous country surrounded by land having altitudes ranges from below
than sea level to 3000m above sea level. The country is situated at a strategic location dominated
by a complex network of rivers. Water is considered as the major natural resource in
Afghanistan therefore proper management of water is necessary for future development of the
country (Lashkaripour and Hussaini, 2008). Rivers are not only considered as source of
economy, but also have their ecological significance. The ecological features depend on the
surrounding locality and change with respect to place and time. The variations in surrounding
environment and season affect the quantity and quality of river water. Therefore, proper
management is always necessary (Nafees et al., 2016).
Estimation of cropped area has vital significance in making policies regarding food and
agricultural management (Abbas et al., 2006). Mapping Land use and Land cover (LULC) is
much essential for management, planning and research purposes. The type of relation between
humans and environment can be determined by visualizing land use pattern (Matsa and
Muringaniza, 2011). Land use and Land cover are two different terms. Land cover represents the
surface physical form e.g. Forests, crops, water and bare soil. Land use express the human
interferences that have been done for their personal benefits. Examples of land use includes
irrigated lands, reservoirs, recreational, residential and industrial buildings (Cheema and
Bastiaanssen, 2010). LULC information is not only essential for water and land management but
it also has a dynamic relationship with the people and surrounding of a rural environment
(Walsh et al., 2001).
The Kabul River basin (KRB) is a complex basin having a variety of LULC classes.
Accurate and improved information is necessary for policy makers. So it is necessary to prepare
LULC classification map of the basin for developing efficient policies regarding agricultural and
water management. The Intelligent pixel mapping can be used to do this type of LULC
classification. The intelligent pixel mapping has the capability of describing earth surface
physical procedures which hold in satellite data in a difficult form. It makes the pixels so smart
that enable the spectral radiances to be converted easily into quantified data. The intelligent
pixels are useful for the development of databases for water, vegetation and climate. Regarding
LULC classification various techniques have been adopted including supervised/unsupervised
classification, maximum likelihood (ML) algorithm (BOLSTAD and Lillesand, 1991), Neural
network and intelligent (Benediktsson et al., 1990).
 Land cover and its dynamics require updated and accurate information at different spatial
and temporal resolutions (Chen et al., 2015). In many studies, NDVI time series data obtained
from the sensors having moderate resolution has been used for detecting changes in LC because
of their regular revisiting time (Lhermitte et al., 2008). Change detection is considered a
challenge for complex or small scale lands using moderate resolution imagery (Lu et al., 2016).
Selection of RS data for LC mapping depends on the objectives of mapping and features
of the study area (Campbell and Wynne, 2011). The Sentinel-2 imagery provides an opportunity
for mapping land cover in finer scale, mainly for the most difficult lands, having a greater
degree of fragmentation (Rujoiu-Mare et al., 2017). Sentinel-2 MSI sensor consists of 13
spectral bands with a fine spatial resolution (Drusch et al., 2012) and spectral resolution and
some near-infrared wavelength intervals (Delegido et al., 2011) for advanced image and land
cover analysis at local levels.

OBJECTIVES

1. To determine the suitability of using high resolution Sentinel-2 data for LULC
classification.
2. To develop LULC map of Kabul river basin for effective agricultural management.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study Area
The study was conducted in the Kabul River Basin (KRB) located among Hindukush
mountains chains. KRB is a transboundary basin having a good strategic importance for
Afghanistan. There is significant variation in temperature, precipitation and elevation across the
KRB. So, it is essential to conduct a comprehensive study in KRB and find out the areal extent
of different LULC. The brief details of the area are as follows

Description of Area
The Kabul river basin (KRB) is a complex basin situated among the mountain chains of
Hindukush. The KRB has an elevation ranges from 400m to 6000m (Qureshi, 2002). It covers
13 provinces with a total drainage area of 7,264,632 ha in which 9% area is cropland, including
both as rainfed and irrigated. The central and eastern parts of KRB consists of plain lands and
considered appropriate for agriculture whereas mountains with high elevation exist in the
northern part (Lashkaripour and Hussaini, 2008). The basin approximately holds one-third of the
total population and one-fourth of the settlements, three times more populated as compared to
the other four basins (CSO, 2016). The basin also covers around two-thirds of the total country’s
forests (Najmuddin et al., 2018).

Location of the study area along with provincial boundaries

Irrigation system of Area
Kabul River basin is one of the larger part of the Indus basin which is situated both in
Afghanistan and Pakistan. The people living along this river basin are mostly Pashtuns. The
Kabul river basin (KRB) is a large basin and considered as one of important basin for its
political value. KRB is the fourth largest river basin of Afghanistan after the other major river
basins of Afghanistan i.e. Helmand, Amu Darya and Harrirud. The Kabul river has the capacity
to irrigate 11% area of Afghanistan. The basin has a total population of 7 million which covers
34% of the total Afghanistan’s population (Kamal, 2004). As the population is increasing day by
day, therefore more water will be required by Afghanistan to irrigate its crops and produce
sufficient electricity for its upcoming generation in the future. The area covering the Kabul river
basin is 76908 square kilometers and holds around 7 million peoples according to the 2004
report. The three main rivers of Kabul river i.e. Logar, Kabul and Paghman irrigate the Afghan
side of the basin (Tünnermeier et al., 2005).

Data Collection
This section describes the different sources from which the data was acquired and the methods
used for the collection and processing of data for the present research work.

Table 3.1. Summary of data collected for study

Data type Data Data source Data
products Specification

Satellite data Sentinel 2 https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov 10m Spatial

resolution

Sample Ground Field surveys Rabi and kharif

truthing seasons
point

Agriculture Crop Statistics Unit, Ministry of Agriculture, Rabi and kharif

data statistics Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) seasons
Satellite Data
LULC mapping requires updated and accurate information at a resolution that fits farm settings.
For the purpose of achieving good results mapping at 10 m resolution was performed. In this
study the choice of satellite data was mainly based on their availability and suitability. The
Sentinel-2 data is available free of cost and is a valuable product for the management of
agricultural lands (Sonobe et al., 2017). The Sentinel 2 imagery is good enough for mapping the
land use (LU) and land cover (LC) especially in the complex lands having a very high degree of
fragmentation (Rujoiu-Mare et al., 2017).

Agricultural Statistics Data

Agricultural statistics data was collected from Agricultural statistics unit of Ministry of
Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL). The data was used for the validation of LULC
maps. The results of the developed LULC maps were compared with crops statistics and then
presented in graphical form.
Field data Collection
The ground truthing data required for this research work was collected by field visit
accompanied in Kabul river basin. The location of different land use and land cover were
determined through GPS receiver.

Field survey for ground truthing points

Data Processing
The Sentinel-2 data was downloaded from earth explorer for the years of 2016, 2017 and 2018.
The data was first imported into the ERDAS Imagine software through import command. The
Kabul river basin covers in 21 tiles of Sentine-2 and each tile is imported one by one. Before
starting the processing, the tiles first need to be combine. The tiles were grouped on monthly
basis and then mosaiced to get a complete image for each month.

Flow chart of Image processing

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is the numerical illustration by which the
electromagnetic spectrum can be expressed which uses the bands of visible and near infrared.
The NDVI has relation with plants through an algorithm and can be openly acquired from
satellite source. Basically it indicates changes which happened in the ecosystem because of the
variations in surrounding (Carbone et al., 1996).
The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is the plant greenness index and is
considered as the most extensively used vegetation indices for the determination of crops
phenology (Yan and Roy, 2014). It moderates the spectral noise produced by certain lighting
situations, terrain alterations or cloud shades (Huete et al., 2002). The vegetation indices follow
the principle that the reflection of dissimilar surfaces will be different from one another.
Vegetation having good photosynthetic activity absorbs all the incident red light and reflect the
remaining near infrared light. The Dead vegetation which has low photosynthetic activity
absorbs most of the infrared light and reflect the red light.
NDVI = (NIR - RED) / (NIR + RED)

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
-0.1

-0.2

NDVI profile of various classes

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Land Use Land Cover Classification
The Land use and land cover (LULC) classification of Kabul River Basin was performed for the
years 2016, 2017 and 2018 by using unsupervised classification method. The Supervised
classification was performed for further refinement of unsupervised classification using ground
truthing data collected during field survey.
Land use and Land cover mapping of 2016

Land Use Land Cover Map 2016

Table: Land Use Land Cover Map 2016
Class Name Area (ha)

1 Wheat 418000

2 Orchads 8546

3 Water 11025

4 Bare soil 14890

5 Forest Area 6523

6 Rice 12617

7 Snow 18545

8 Barley 5768

9 Maize 64551

10 Rainfed 45680

Area covered by different Classes in Hectare (2016)

Wheat Orchads Water Bare soil Forest Area Rice Snow Barley Maize Rainfed

Pie chart showing area covered by different classes in 2016

Land use and Land cover mapping of 2017

Land Use Land Cover Map 2017

Table: Land Use Land Cover Map 2017
Class Name Area (ha)

1 Wheat 370000

2 Orchads 7130

3 Water 12500

4 Bare soil 16240

5 Forest Area 6700

6 Rice 37695

7 Snow 20680

8 Barley 1918

9 Maize 44474

10 Rainfed 40700

Area covered by different Classes in Hectare (2017)

Wheat Orchads Water Bare soil Forest Area Rice Snow Barley Maize Rainfed

Pie chart showing area covered by different classes in 2017

Land use and Land cover mapping of 2018

Land Use Land Cover Map 2018

Table: Land Use Land Cover Map 2018
Class Name Area (ha)

1 Wheat 394000

2 Orchads 9950

3 Water 13255

4 Bare soil 13854

5 Forest Area 7260

6 Rice 25156

7 Snow 19860

8 Barley 3843

9 Maize 54512

10 Rainfed 40230

Area covered by different Classes in Hectare (2018)

Wheat Orchads Water Bare soil Forest Area Rice Snow Barley Maize Rainfed

Pie chart showing area covered by different classes in 2018

CONSULSION
 Sentinel-2 data having a fine spatial resolution of 10m and a temporal resolution of 10
days resulted in accurate and reliable mapping of Kabul river basin.
 The relationship between statistical and LULC mapping data point out higher values of
correlation which indicates a better efficiency of classification. The mapping results can
be utilized in estimating the major crops.
 The LULC map developed on NDVI basis can be considered as a reliable tool for
assessing the crop area. The determination of area covered by crops will assist the
agricultural managers and strategy makers to design and plan new policies for the
enhancement of agricultural productivity.
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