Abstract:This paper investigated the temporal and spatial change of land cover type within 5 km around the deformation stations in China by using the GlobeLand30 product and MODIS-MCD12Q1 land cover dataset from 2000 to 2018. Then taking the vertical pendulum observation as an example, the relationship between the total land cover changes around deformation stations and the background noise of instrument observation was explored. The results showed that: (1) Cultivated land and forest are the main land types within 5 km around the fixed deformation stations in China. From 2000 to 2010, the proportion of artificial surface increased from 11.8% to 14.5%, while the area of cultivated land and grassland decreased by 2.2% and 1.6%, respectively. The area of cultivated land converted to man-made surface is the largest in the study area, with a total value of 525 km2. (2) The decrease of cultivated land and the increase of man-made surface are the most severe in North China seismic region; the decrease of grassland type and the increase of bare land type are the main types in Xinjiang seismic region; the increase of grassland type and the decrease of man-made land surface are slightly in Northeast China seismic region.The change of land cover around stations in different seismic regions of mainland China is different. The area of cultivated land decreased while the artificial surface increased acutely in North China; Xinjiang seismic zone was mainly decreased in grassland and increased in bare land; the grassland in Northeast seismic zone increased while the artificial surface decreased slightly. (3) During 2001-2018, the forest area in the study area increased slowly and the cultivated land continued to decrease, especially in 2005-2016; the artificial surface continued to increase steadily year by year. (4) In 2016, the background noise observed by the vertical pendulum tiltmeter had a certain correlation with the total annual land cover change around the station. However, due to the influence of ocean motion, the noise level of the instruments in South China seismic zone was not positively related to the change of surrounding environment.