Remote sensing processing consequences of political and economical changes on Klaipeda county forests (1986-2005)

International audienceThe change of political system with the end of Soviet Union has transformed the economical Lithuania’s system with important consequences on the forest resources. One of the approaches to analyse the spatial consequences on forest of Klaipeda county is the modelling of spatio-temporal forest cover changes by remote sensing, between 1986 (end of Soviet Union) and 2005. Measures and analysis of forest land cover changes in the Klaipeda County are made by the use of different spatial and geographical data: satellites images (from 1986 and 2001) and airborne color photography (from 2005). All forest parcels, identified on remote sensing processing images, are digitalized in vector files at different dates: in 1986, 2001 and 2005. The result is a cartography of extend forest parcels at each date, a spatial map modeling of growth and transformation between 1986, 2001 and 2005 by overlaying or fusion. Our results show that forest area in Klaipeda district increased from 20.5 % in 1986 to 23.9 % in 2005