Assessment and Validation of Land Surface Temperature (LST) Dynamics using Geo-spatial Techniques in Dera Ghazi Khan City, Pakistan

The integrated practice of remote-sensing and GIS techniques provides an active tool for assessment of spatial and temporal variability of land features. Based on literature, it can be suggested that various studies over the recent years have been carried out to explore the potential of geospatial techniques and were found highly efficient to understand the interdependency of landscape changes, land surface temperature changes (LST) and creation of Urban Heat Island (UHI) in major cities around globe. The current research was conducted in Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab- Pakistan which is located at latitude 30.04587 N and longitude 70.64029 E. The Landsat 8 TIRS and OLI images were obtained free of cost from USGS e-data portal. These images have already been rectified to WGS-1984-UTM-Zone_43N. The meteorological data file (MTL) for Dera Ghazi Khan- contains the study was acquired from Pakistan Meteorological Department. As per results vegetation cover has been decreased up to 15 % from 2001 to 2021, which was directly affecting the land surface temperature. It has been observed that LST derived from the satellite was closely matched with ground climatic data; there was a mere temperature difference of 2°C to 3°C. It is concluded that LST was negatively correlated with vegetation cover of the area under study. It is suggested to implement road map as provided in Dera Ghazi Khan Master Plan-2021 in order to have a control on unplanned landscape changes, urban evolution and rapid population growth.