Remote sensing and GIS-based integrated analysis of land cover change in Duzce plain and its surroundings (north western Turkey) Cercis Ikiel & Beyza Ustaoglu & Ayse Atalay Dutucu & Derya Evrim Kilic Received: 28 September 2011 / Accepted: 23 April 2012 / Published online: 16 May 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Abstract The aim of this study is to research natural land cover change caused by the permanent effects of human activities in Duzce plain and its surroundings, and to determine the current status of the land cover. For this purpose, two Landsat TM images were used in the study for the years 1987 and 2010. These images are analysed by using data image processing techniques in ERDAS Imagine©10.0 and ArcGIS©10.0 software. Land cover change nomenclature is classified according to the Coordination of Information on the Environment Level 2 Classification (1—urban fabric, 2—industrial, commercial and transport units, 3— heterogeneous agricultural areas, 4—forests, and 5— inland wetlands). Furthermore, the image analysis results are confirmed by the field research. According to the results, a decrease of 33.5 % was recorded in forest areas from 24,840.7 to 16,529.0 ha; an increase of 11.2 % was recorded in heterogeneous agricultural areas from 47,702.7 to 53,051.7 ha. Natural vegetation, which is the large part of land cover in the research area, has been changing rapidly because of rapid urbanisation and agricultural activities. As a result, it is concluded that significant changes have occurred on the natural land cover between the years 1987 and 2010 in the Duzce plain and its surroundings. Keywords Land cover change . CORINE . Landsat TM . The Duzce plain, Turkey Introduction Land cover changes can be used to identify the direct and indirect processes of land degradation. Human/ natural modifications on land cover have resulted in degradation, deforestation, biodiversity loss, global warming, and increase in natural disasters. Growing population, urban expansion, cropland loss, and so on create a pressure on land cover. This pressure results in unplanned and uncontrolled changes in land cover. Land cover changes leading to severe environmental problems are generally caused by mismanagement of agricultural, urban, and forestlands. Therefore, available data on land cover changes can provide critical insights in the decision-making process in relation to environ- mental management and future planning (Reis 2008). In recent decades, Remote Sensing (RS) with multi- temporal high-resolution satellite data has been widely Environ Monit Assess (2013) 185:1699–1709 DOI 10.1007/s10661-012-2661-6 This paper was presented at the UGI Regional Geographic Conference, 14–18 November 2011, Chile, Santiago C. Ikiel : B. Ustaoglu (*) : A. A. Dutucu : D. E. Kilic Department of Geography, Sakarya University, Art and Science Faculty, 54100 Sakarya, Turkey e-mail: bustaoglu@sakarya.edu.tr C. Ikiel e-mail: cikiel@sakarya.edu.tr A. A. Dutucu e-mail: aatalay@sakarya.edu.tr D. E. Kilic e-mail: dkilic@sakarya.edu.tr