Land Cover classification and change-detection analysis using multi-temporal remote sensed imagery and landscape metrics

Remote Sensing (RS) data and techniques, in combination with GIS and landscape metrics, are fundamental to analyse and characterise Land Cover (LC) and its changes. The case study here described, has been conducted in the area of Avellino (Southern Italy). To characterise the dynamics of changes during a fifty year period (1954÷2004), a multi-temporal set of images has been processed: aerial photos (1954), and Landsat scenes (MSS 1975, TM 1985 and 1993, ETM+ 2004). LC pattern and its changes are linked to both natural and social processes whose driving role has been clearly demonstrated in the case study: after the disastrous Irpinia earthquake (1980), specific zoning laws and urban plans have significantly addressed landscape changes.