Abstract
The Urban Heat Island (UHI) results in significant and sometimes dramatic increases in air temperature differences between the urban environment and its surrounding areas. The heat island structure may extend from the ground to the top of roofs and canopy levels above ground. The Urban Heat Island effect is a leading factor in a long list of human health problems which are expected to increase with the rapid growth of urban populations and projected future climate change. Urban heat island studies can be conducted through either direct measurements of air temperature using automobile transects and weather station networks or through measuring surface temperature using airborne or satellite remote sensing. In this study, UHI was investigated over the Greater Cairo during both summer and winter seasons over two different dates. Landsat 7 ETM+ data were used and the mono-window algorithm was applied in the study. Results emphasis that both types of heat islands exist in the study area i.e. the surface and the atmospheric heat islands. Temperature differences ranged between 0.5°C to 3.5°C and these are much related to the existing land use/covers. It could be concluded that expansion of urban areas in Greater Cairo has led to increased thermal radiation of land surface on the highly populated areas.
Highlights
Urban development has some negative impacts on the global environmental quality, including air quality, temperature increases and landscape alteration
Urban heat island (UHI) is measured by surface temperature, which can vary between the city and rural area by up to 5 ̊C (United Nations, 2010) [2]
UHI over Greater Cairo Spatial distribution of LST over the Greater Cairo is shown in Figure 4, which explores the four different dates considered in the study
Summary
Urban development has some negative impacts on the global environmental quality, including air quality, temperature increases and landscape alteration. It leads to conversion of agricultural land and loss of biodiversity (Santamouris et al, 2001) [1]. Urban heat island (UHI) is a climatic phenomenon where urban areas have higher air temperature than their rural surroundings due to the anthropogenic modifications of land surfaces. There are two types of urban heat islands, surface and atmospheric UHI. A combination of factors leads to the development of the UHI. UHI is measured by surface temperature, which can vary between the city and rural area by up to 5 ̊C (United Nations, 2010) [2]
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