Liu, X.; Xu, Y., and Song, J., 2020. Geomorphologic characteristics of sandspit from the Yellow River estuary: Impact on land cover classification. In: Zheng, C.W.; Wang, Q.; Zhan, C., and Yang, S.B. (eds.), Air-Sea Interaction and Coastal Environments of the Maritime and Polar Silk Roads. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 99, pp. 257–262. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.

It is of great importance to study the response of land cover classification to micro-geomorphic type, which is an important non-zonal environmental factor. In this study, digital elevation modeling and two pairs of synthetic aperture radar data captured by Landsat8 OLI in 2018 and Landsat5 TM in 2010 were used to interpret the relationship between the land cover classification and geomorphological type for sandspit from the Yellow River estuary, China. The results showed that water accounted for the largest proportion of the total study area (> 40%), followed by Tamarix–Suaeda (18.59%), naked tidal-flat (13.25%), Tamarix–Phragmites australis (9.70%), Suaeda (5.35%), Phragmites australis (4.34%), Spartina alterniflora (4.28%), and scattered manmade objects (1.74%). The vegetation communities of the sandspit in the Yellow River delta were affected by the dual effects of seawater and river water, and presented a concentric, annular distribution trend towards the sea. Plants such as Spartina alterniflora and Suaeda heteropera were affected by the ocean and were mostly distributed in the estuarine coastal area. Phragmites australis communities were greatly affected by the river, and were mostly distributed around the river banks and farther away from the coast.