Abstract
Arica is a coastal city located in northern Chile, in the Atacama Desert. The behavior of surface temperatures in the city between 1985 and 2019 was studied using Landsat satellite images, leading to the identification of surface urban heat islands (SUHI), surface urban cold islands (SUCI), and average temperature zones. The higher intensities of the SUHI reach values of almost 45 °C and the SUCI lower values are below 13 °C. From the socioeconomic characterisation of the population based on indicators retrieved from the 2012 and 2017 population censuses, we identified that during the study period there was a lower presence of SUHI, but these were linked to spaces of lower socioeconomic level and, for the most part, would form new urban spaces within the city. On the other hand, SUCI had a greater spatial presence in the study area and in the urban morphology, being found mostly in areas of high socioeconomic level and in consolidated spaces with few possibilities of generating new constructions.
Highlights
Urbanization processes have been established as one of the major territorial expressions since the late seventeenth century [1]
For the year 2002, the surface urban heat islands (SUHI) extended over 22.55 km2 (48.6%) in the study area, while the surface urban cold islands (SUCI) was concentrated over 2.02 km2 (4.4%)
In 2003, SUHI had an area of 21.73 km2 (46.9%) in the study area, while SUCI was concentrated over an area of 1.99 km2 (4.3%)
Summary
Urbanization processes have been established as one of the major territorial expressions since the late seventeenth century [1]. While 50% of the planet’s inhabitants live in cities, in this macro-region, this percentage increases to 79.5%, with inhabitants living between large and medium-sized cities [3] that may be subjected to different tropical, desert, or temperate climates [4] Urban areas and their subsequent evolution have gradually modified space, in turn modifying the natural energetic and hydrological exchanges [5]. This is mainly materialized in the spatial elements and conditions [6] determined initially by geographic location and atmospheric conditions [7], generating a new urban climate and implying a local climate modification. This method has provided a wide range of data not limited to meteorological stations and/or mobile transects [7], and allowing the estimation of land surfaces temperatures (LST), from which surface urban heat islands (SUHI) can be identified
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