Utilization of multitemporal satellite imagery and forest canopy density (FCD) model for analyzing changes in forest density in Mosul province, Iraq

Abstract

Forest cover in Mosul Province experienced significant changes following the 2014 occupation.
These changes can be effectively analyzed using multitemporal remote sensing imagery. This study aims to evaluate the ability of multi-temporal Landsat 8 images and the Forest Canopy Density (FCD) model to detect changes in forest canopy density in a protected forest in Mosul Governorate during the period from 2014 to 2025. The remote sensing data used in this research are Landsat 8 images captured on March 21, 2014, and April 4, 2025. The method employed is FCD modeling, which produces pixel-level canopy density estimates. The results of the FCD model are then used to analyze changes in canopy density following the occupation. The findings of this study show that Landsat 8 imagery can be effectively used to detect canopy density in the Mosul Province protected forest, with accuracies of 82.65% before the occupation and 80.71% after. There are significant changes in canopy density post- occupation: approximately 598.17 acres of forest experienced a decrease in canopy density, 168.05 acres remained unchanged, and 133.78 acres showed an increase in canopy density.