An approach to analyzing the intensity of the daytime surface urban heat island effect at a local scale

Abstract

A landscape index LI is proposed to evaluate the intensity of the daytime surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect at a local scale.

How can urban water bodies be designed for climate adaptation?

“…The main reasons of UHI effects are changes in the thermal properties of surface materials and lack of evapotranspiration through lack of vegetation and water bodies in urban areas. The negative impacts of UHI are well known such as increasing energy consumption, compromising human health and comfort, and intensifying carbon dioxide emissions (Patz, Campbell-Lendrum, Holloway, & Foley, 2005;Rizwan, Dennis, & Liu, 2008;Vanos, Warland, Gillespie, & Kenny, 2010;Xu, 2009).…”

Evaluation of the intensity of the daytime surface urban heat island: how can remote sensing help?

“…The study established that LI can be used to compare the intensity of the daytime LST between urban area (the source landscape) and neighbouring rural area (the sink). Xu (2009) and Lazzarini et al (2013) noted great variability between the intensity of LST in the source areas and sink areas. Several other studies have attempted to invigilate the relationship between the landcover types and intensity of urban LST using remote sensing data.…”

“…Not only the increase in LST is particular to cities in developed countries, but the effects are also obvious in several urban settlements in third world countries (Dash et al 2002, Streutker 2003, Wang et al 2006, Akinbode et al 2008. The importance of LST information in urban environmental studies cannot be overstated, according to Xu (2009) and Deng and Wu (2013), because it determines by the land surface energy balance and varies rapidly due to the low thermal inertia of the urban land surface and directly affect the air temperature. Thus study of LST in both local and global scales is essential for better understanding of the greenhouse effect, and energy balance on the ground as one of the major key parameters in the physics of land surface processes (Tran et al 2006, Hu and Weng 2009.…”

“…Thus study of LST in both local and global scales is essential for better understanding of the greenhouse effect, and energy balance on the ground as one of the major key parameters in the physics of land surface processes (Tran et al 2006, Hu and Weng 2009. What is obvious from the literature is that the urban heat island (UHI) usually results from extensive urban surface that modifies energy, though the UHI is the atmospheric temperature, that occurs mostly in urban areas compared to the surrounding rural areas (Voogt and Oke 2003, Zhou and Wang 2008, Xu 2009, Wang et al 2011.…”

“…In recent years however, there has been an improvement in accuracy of satellite-derived LST analysis through the use of radiative transfer models. For example, Xu (2009) assessed the spatial intensity of the daytime UHI using Landsat data and the study methodology was based on application of landscape index (LI) to evaluate the contributions of the source and sink landscape to UHI. The study established that LI can be used to compare the intensity of the daytime LST between urban area (the source landscape) and neighbouring rural area (the sink).…”