Relationship Between Land Cover and Land Surface Temperature: Example of Eski̇şehi̇r City Center

Abstract

The increase in residential areas in line with the needs of the increasing population and dense urban settlement affect many physical and human elements, especially the urban climate. Especially the materials used in urban spaces and on the land, the quality and quantity of the buildings, and the settlement structure that is not suitable for natural environmental conditions cause differences in land surface temperatures. In this study, it is targeted to evaluate the effect of change in land cover on land surface temperatures in the city center of Eskişehir province. For this purpose, the years 1990 and 2018 were considered, and summer and winter data of Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS satellite images were used. It was concluded that from 1990 to 2018, agricultural lands decreased in area, places with agricultural land were replaced by settlement texture, and especially industrial and commercial units grew in area. This change in land cover has affected the amplitude of land surface temperatures. It was determined that the amplitude of land surface temperatures increased in the study area in both summer and winter. While high land surface temperatures in winter are detected outside the urban settlement boundaries, especially in agricultural lands, in summer they are detected in the city, especially on open and bare surfaces. It is thought that the seasonal humidity of the land, the presence of products in agricultural lands and the heating-cooling characteristics of the materials used in the city are effective on this situation.