RETRACTED ARTICLE: Assessing the influence of highway and high-speed railway construction on local climate using Landsat images in karst areas

Abstract

Large-scale transportation infrastructure construction in ecologically vulnerable areas such as the karst region of Southwest China requires estimation method for better project design. This research was carried out on a four-lane highway (the Guilin-Guiyang highway, G76) and a two-lane high-speed railway (the Guilin-Guiyang high-speed railway, GGHSR) in karst areas in Guizhou and Guangxi provinces. The highway and high-speed railway were constructed in the 2010s and covered by Landsat images whose multispectral information could be used for research purposes. In this study, the severity of the impact and the CO2 emissions from the G76 and GGHSR construction were evaluated. Landsat images and field meteorological measurements were applied to calculate the surface functional parameters (surface temperature and surface wetness) and heat fluxes (latent, sensible and ground heat flux) before and during the highway and high-speed railway construction; the amount of CO2 emissions during the G76 and GGHSR construction were determined by using budget sheets, which record the detail consumptions of materials and energy. The results showed that the decrease of water evaporation from the highway and high-speed railway construction can reach up to 26.4 m3 and 20.1 m3 per kilometer, which corresponds to an average decrease in the vegetation cooling effect of 18.0 MWh per day per highway kilometer and 13.7 MWh per day per high-speed railway kilometer, respectively. At the meantime, the average CO2 emission densities from the G76 and GGHSR construction can reach up to 24813.7 and 36921.1 t/km, respectively. This study implied that extensive line constructions have a significant impact on the local climate and the energy balance, and it is evident that selecting and planting appropriate plant species can compensate for the adverse effects of line constructions in karst mountain regions.