Analysis of land use using Landsat 8 OLI in coastal North Sumatra: a study from 2019 to 2024

Abstract Medan and Deli Serdang are recognized as the most developed regions in Northern Sumatra. However, there have been limited studies focusing on recent land use changes in their coastal zones. To address this gap, this study aims to analyze land use in Medan and Deli Serdang and examine the changes between 2019 and 2024. Using recent Landsat 8 OLI imagery, a supervised classification was conducted in Google Earth Engine. The CART classifier was used to divide the land use into water bodies, built-up, agricultural land, and mangroves. The Kappa index for 2019 and 2024 were 0.78 and 0.77, respectively, indicating reasonable classification accuracy. Agricultural land was found to be the dominant land use type, covering 52.78 % in 2019 and 51.76 % in 2024. A decrease was observed in agricultural land and water bodies, while mangrove coverage and built-up areas increased. The findings provide current conditions of land use in the coastal area of Medan and Deli Serdang, especially for planning and conservation in the coastal area.