Monitoring urban growth and ecological environmental responses based on remote sensing images: A case study of Longyan, China

The change of ecological environment resulted from urbanization is being paid more and more attentions. In this paper, Landsat TM/ETM+ remote sensing images captured on 1992, 2001 and 2006 were selected to investigate the urban growth and the corresponding ecological responses. Index-based Built-up Index (IBI) was used to extract urban built-up area and derive built-up area density. The quantitative analyzing among urban growth, urban heat island (UHI) and vegetation environment was explored based on urban-heat-island ratio index (URI) and vegetation eco-environment evaluation model. The results indicate that built-up area has increased rapidly in recent years, UHI effect has become more significant, and vegetation environment was subject to the breakage to a certain extent. The distribution of UHI and urban growth were highly consistent with the damage intensity of vegetation environment, which confirms that the main driving force of urban heat island and degradation of vegetation environment is urban growth.