Mapping the Influence of Land Use/Land Cover Changes on the Urban Heat Island Effect—A Case Study of Changchun, China

Chaobin Yang,Lingxue Yu,Kun Bu,Fengqin Yan,Jiuchun Yang,Shuwen Zhang,Xingyuan He,Liping Chang

doi:10.3390/su9020312

Abstract

The spatio-temporal patterns of land use/land cover changes (LUCC) can significantly affect the distribution and intensity of the urban heat island (UHI) effect. However, few studies have mapped a clear picture of the influence of LUCC on UHI. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative models are employed to explore the effect of LUCC on UHI. UHI and LUCC maps were retrieved from Landsat data acquired from 1984, 1992, 2000, 2007, and 2014 to show their spatiotemporal patterns. The results showed that: (1) both the patterns of LUCC and UHI have had dramatic changes in the past 30 years. The urban area of Changchun increased more than four times, from 143.15 km2 in 1984 to 577.45 km2 in 2014, and the proportion of UHI regions has increased from 15.27% in 1984 to 29.62% in 2014; (2) the spatiotemporal changes in thermal environment were consistent with the process of urbanization. The average LST of the study area has been continuously increasing as many other land use types have been transformed to urban regions. The mean temperatures were higher in urban regions than rural areas over all of the periods, but the UHI intensity varied based on different measurements; and (3) the thermal environment inside the city varied widely even within a small area. The LST possesses a very strong positive relationship with impervious surface area (ISA), and the relationship has become stronger in recent years. The UHI we employ, specifically in this study, is SUHI (surface urban heat island).

Highlights

urban heat island (UHI), which refers to the phenomenon where urban areas tend to have higher temperatures than those of surrounding rural areas, is one of the major problems the 21st century poses to human beings as a result of the unprecedented growth in urbanization [1,2,3]
We used NLST to characterize the patterns of the thermal environment and analyzed the differences of NLST among land use types, and quantified the effects of urbanization on UHI intensity
The urban area of Changchun increased more than four times from 143.15 km2 in 1984 to 577.45 km2 in 2014

Summary

Introduction

UHI (urban heat island), which refers to the phenomenon where urban areas tend to have higher temperatures than those of surrounding rural areas, is one of the major problems the 21st century poses to human beings as a result of the unprecedented growth in urbanization [1,2,3]. The UHI has profound effects on social, economic, and environmental problems, such as human health and well-being, mortality and risk of violence, higher energy costs, air quality, and urban runoff [7,8,9,10]. Many efforts have been made to mitigate the negative impacts caused by UHI, such as new roofing and paving materials, and more green space areas [12,13,14,15]. It has become a major research focus in urban climatology and urban ecology since first reported in 1818 [16]. To have a better understanding of the UHI effects is very important for providing a scientific basis for future climate mitigation and urban planning [17,18]

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Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion