Urban ecological quality and statistical correlation analysis based on satellite remote sensing

Abstract

Jiangsu Province is an area with active economic and social development. With the advancement of urbanization, ecological issues have become a hot spot in the region. Objectively and quantitatively assessing spatial-temporal environmental quality changes is crucial for environmental protection and policymaking. Remote sensing is a very effective ground-based information acquisition tool for long-term ecological analysis. Thus, this study uses remote sensing to evaluate the quality of the ecological environment in Jiangsu Province. The Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) from 1990 to 2020 is calculated on the Google Earth Engine platform. The spatial-temporal changes and spatial auto-correlation of the ecological environment quality are evaluated. The results show that from 1990 to 2020, the ecological status shows a downward-rising-flat trend. The RSEI has decreased from 0.4677(1990) to 0.4524(2005) and then increased from 0.4524(2005) to 0.4562(2020). The spatial auto-correlation analysis show that the spatial distribution of ecological quality is positively correlated. The clustering map of RSEI spatially correlated local indicators show that the hot points are mainly located in the north and middle parts of the study area. The cold points are mainly distributed in the southern Yangtze River coastal urban cluster. Such a technique is not limited by time and space, so it can be widely used in monitoring and protecting the ecological environment.