Diverse cooling effects of green space on urban heat island in tropical megacities

Abstract

Cities in tropical regions are experiencing high heat risks by overlaying the urban heat island (UHI) effect. Urban green space (UGS) can provide local cooling effect and reduce UHI. However, there still lack a comprehensive exploration of the characteristics of UHI and cooling effect of UGS due to high cloud coverage and limited number of available remote sensing observations. In this study, the enhanced spatial and temporal adaptive reflectance data fusion method was employed to develop an enhanced land surface temperature data in winter seasons in three tropical megacities, Dhaka, Kolkata, and Bangkok. The spatiotemporal variations of surface urban heat island (SUHI) were explored from 2000 to 2020 with a 5-years interval. The optimal size of UGS associated with its cooling effects was assessed by using the threshold value of efficiency (TVoE). The relationship between the intensity and range of urban cooling island (UCI) and four landscape metrics of green space patches, total area (P_Area), shape index (P_SI), normalized difference vegetation index (P_NDVI), and land surface temperature (P_LST), were analyzed. The results show that the average SUHI intensity increased by 0.98°C, 1.42°C, and 0.73°C in Dhaka, Kolkata, and Bangkok, respectively, from 2000 to 2020. The maximum intensity of UCI ranges from 4.83°C in Bangkok to 8.07°C in Kolkata, and the maximum range of UCI varies from 300 m in Bangkok to 420 m in Kolkata. The optimal size of green space is 0.37 ha, 0.77 ha, and 0.42 ha in Dhaka, Kolkata, and Bangkok, respectively. The P_NDVI and P_Area had significant positive effects on UCI intensity and range, while the background temperature had significant negative effects. With higher background temperature, the optimal patch size of UGS is larger. This study provides useful information for developing effective heat mitigation and adaptation strategies to enhance climate resilience in tropical cities.