Surface- and Air-Temperature Studies in Relation to Land Use/Land Cover of Nagpur Urban Area Using Landsat 5TM Data

Abstract

Continuously changing temperature trends within the urban regions are worth noticing. This paper investigates the influence of land use/ land cover (LU/LC) of an urban area on the air temperatures. Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper image of December 2000 of Nagpur city is used for the analysis. The calculated correlated coefficients depict a high degree of correlation between the digital number values of thermal band and the air temperatures, which is indicative of the surface temperatures (Ts) as the controlling parameter for the air temperature (Ta). The surface temperature and air temperature were correlated to different LU/LC class in the city. Ts are calculated from the Markham–Barker equation and Ta from the actual field records in each class. The analysis shows that the presence of a specific LU/LC class in the city may be related to the formation of surface heat island and canopy layer heat island within the urban area in Nagpur.