Abstract
The urban heat island (UHI) effect has become a significant focus of research in today’s era of climate change, and a key consideration for the next generation of urban planning focused on green and livable cities. UHI has traditionally been measured using in situ data and ground-based measurements. However, with the increased availability of satellite-based thermal observations of the Earth, remotely sensed observations are increasingly being utilized to estimate surface urban heat island (SUHI), using land surface temperature (LST) as a critical indicator, due to its spatial coverage. In this study, we estimated LST based on Landsat-8 observations to demonstrate the relationship between LST and the characteristics of the land use and land cover on the campus of King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. We found a consistent variation of between 7 and 9 degrees Celsius for LST across campus, spanning all summer and winter seasons between 2014 and 2019. The LST correlates strongly with both green vegetation and built-up land cover, with a slightly stronger correlation with the latter. The relationship between LST and green vegetation has a notable seasonality, with higher correlation in the summer seasons compared to the winter seasons. Our study also found an overall increase in LST between 2014 and 2019, due to intentional changes in the built-up land cover, for example from the conversion of natural green surfaces to artificial surfaces. The findings of this study highlight the utility of the remotely sensed observation of LST to assess the SUHI phenomenon and can be used to inform future planning aimed at securing green and livable urban areas in the face of a changing climate.
Highlights
Land surface temperature (LST), which is referred to as the ‘surface radiometric temperature’ [1] or ‘radiative “skin” temperature’ [2], can be measured remotely, for example by satellite or airborne remote sensing
In light of the scarcity of studies that evaluate the relationship between LST and surface urban heat island (SUHI) on a local scale, the main objective of this study was to examine the SUHI effect on a local scale, i.e., a university campus in Saudi Arabia
We present a detailed analysis of the relationship between spatial and temporal patterns of LST and land use and land cover (LULC), along with the results of correlation and regression tests to estimate the relationship between changes in LST and changes in LULC
Summary
Land surface temperature (LST), which is referred to as the ‘surface radiometric temperature’ [1] or ‘radiative “skin” temperature’ [2], can be measured remotely, for example by satellite or airborne remote sensing. LST is a key factor when estimating the urban heat island (UHI) effect, i.e., when an urban area exhibits higher atmospheric and surface temperatures compared to adjacent rural areas [4], with a significant impact on the ecology, environment, and society [5]. The UHI effect can be categorized into three main types: boundary layer urban heat island (BLUHI), canopy layer urban heat island (CLUHI) and surface urban heat island (SUHI) [6]. We examine the SUHI, as measured on the surface. Ensuring that cities are green and livable in the face of a changing climate requires careful consideration of the
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