Satellite monitoring of land and vegetation and its potential application in urban sustainability

The present study illustrates a method for monitoring the urban vegetation around Shaoxing city, Monitoring spatiotemporal changes in urban areas will become increasingly important as the number and proportion of urban residents continues to increase. The synoptic view of urban land cover provided by satellite and airborne sensors is an important complement to in situ measurements of physical, environmental and socioeconomic variables in urban settings. The results obtained have revealed a notable change in the vegetation cover in and around the City premises. In this study, we discussed methodology for measurement of urban vegetation and vegetation distributions based on band ratioing in Shaoxing city using Land sat TM imageries. A systematic analysis of the spatiotemporal dynamics of vegetation in urban areas is required to ensure a healthy sustainable environment.