1. Land-cover Change and Environmental Impact Analysis in the Greater Mankato Area of Minnesota Using Remote Sensing and GIS modeling
Paper by: F. Yuan International Journal of Remote Sensing, Volume 29: p1169 – 1184.
Presented by Ryan Miller
Spanish, Geog 370
24/02/2008

2. Problem
Problem: Land-use and land-cover changes have great effects on the environmental and socio-economic sustainability of communities. When one type of use replaces another, the effects tend to be superimposed and cumulative.
Hypothesis: Changes in percent impervious surface, cropland and grassland affect the local environment with regards to air and water quality.

3. Methods Site: Mankato, MN ArcGIS-CITYgreen™ QuickBird
Determined the land cover type based on aerial photography from 1971 and from 2003
Impervious Surface, Forest, Cropland/Grass, Water -textural and spectral variation issues addressed
Determined air quality, carbon storage and sequestration, storm water runoff, and water-quality changes
Ozone, Sulfur Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, particulate matter <10 µm

4. Results Extent of urban development nearly doubled from 1971-2003
18.3% 32.6%
Urban sprawl has increased average surface runoff volume by 5.14mm
Urban development has not impacted the overall air quality of the area *
*Author attributes the unchanged levels in annual air-pollution removal rate and carbon storage/sequestration to the increase of urban forest in this site over the 32-year span.

5. Figures

6. Conclusions
Accurate land use information can be obtained from high resolute remote-sensing data and interpreted with GIS tools in order to estimate present changes in environmental effects from land use and land cover changes.
Urban sprawl increases total runoff volumes.
Criticisms:
Scale of the assessment
Focus on municipal boundaries rather than Watershed boundaries
Opportunities
Lack of explored opportunities for land use regulation