Spatiotemporal dynamics of impervious surface areas across China during the early 21st century

China has experienced an unprecedented urbanization and industrialization in the past decades. In this research, we examined the dynamics of construction lands and impervious surface areas (ISA) based on land use/cover change and ISA datasets between 2000 and 2008, which were provided by the national resources and environmental remote sensing information platform. The results indicated that the construction areas and ISA increased by 3468.30 and 2212.24 km(2)/a in this period primarily due to the implementation of national macro-development strategies and fast-growing economy. In 2008, ISA accounted for 0.86% of the total land area in China. Urban land areas increased by 43.46% between 2000 and 2008. The annual growth rate of 1788.22 km(2)/a in this period was 2.18 times that in the 1990s. In particular, urban ISA increased by 53.30% between 2000 and 2008 with an annual growth rate of 1348.85 km(2)/a. During the 8 years, the ISA in China increased rapidly, especially in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan Metropolitan Region, Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, and the western China region. The increasing ISA may influence potentially water environmental quality in the major basins. In particular, the number of subbasins having ISA of greater than 10% increased considerably, which were primarily distributed in the Haihe River, Yangtze River and Pearl River basins. In 2008, 14.42% of the basin areas were affected by the increased ISA.