Change Detection of Land cover and Urban Heat Islands using Multi-Temporal Landsat Images, application in Tanta City, Egypt

Abstract

The rapid urbanization coupled with tremendous growth in population and built-up areas in cities, lead to problems associated with global climate change impacts such as urban heat islands. The current study is concerned with mapping the dynamics of urban growth and the urban heat island (UHI) in Tanta city, Nile Delta, Egypt using remote sensing data and techniques. The thermal bands of five multi-temporal Landsat5 TM and Landsat7 ETM+ images covering Tanta city, Egypt acquired in summer season were analysed for the spatio-temporal identification and mapping of UHIs. First, Landsat multiple bands were used to classify the landcover and to detect the changes in built-up areas. Second, the thermal bands were used to retrieve the land surface temperature (LST) in the city and outskirts. Third, The urban heat islands (UHI) intensity was identified for each image and mapped using the mean temperature and standard deviation. Finally, a regression analysis was conducted to study the relationship between LST and green areas and built-up areas. The results revealed the enormous urban growth and reduction of the green areas in Tanta during the study periods. This was accompanied by an increase in urban heat islands intensity. The results revealed that the relationships between the percentage of built-up areas, green areas and the land surface temperature in the city.