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Utilizing Remotely Sensed Observations to Estimate the Urban Heat Island Effect at a Local Scale: Case Study of a University Campus

Author

Listed:
  • Abdullah Addas

    (Landscape Architecture Department, Faculty of Architecture & Planning, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80210, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia)

  • Ran Goldblatt

    (New Light Technologies Inc., Washington, DC 20005, USA)

  • Steven Rubinyi

    (Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience, and Land Global Practice, The World Bank, Washington, DC 20433, USA)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdullah Addas & Ran Goldblatt & Steven Rubinyi, 2020. "Utilizing Remotely Sensed Observations to Estimate the Urban Heat Island Effect at a Local Scale: Case Study of a University Campus," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-26, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:9:y:2020:i:6:p:191-:d:369567
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Younha Kim & Seung Man An & Jeong-Hee Eum & Jung-Hun Woo, 2016. "Analysis of Thermal Environment over a Small-Scale Landscape in a Densely Built-Up Asian Megacity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-17, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mohsin Ramzan & Zulfiqar Ahmad Saqib & Ejaz Hussain & Junaid Aziz Khan & Abid Nazir & Muhammad Yousif Sardar Dasti & Saqib Ali & Nabeel Khan Niazi, 2022. "Remote Sensing-Based Prediction of Temporal Changes in Land Surface Temperature and Land Use-Land Cover (LULC) in Urban Environments," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, September.
    2. Taher Safarrad & Mostafa Ghadami & Andreas Dittmann & Mousa Pazhuhan (Panahandeh Khah), 2021. "Tourism Effect on the Spatiotemporal Pattern of Land Surface Temperature (LST): Babolsar and Fereydonkenar Cities (Cases Study in Iran)," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-25, September.
    3. Shenghui Zhou & Ke Wang & Shiqi Yang & Wenli Li & Yuxuan Zhang & Bin Zhang & Yiming Fu & Xiaoyan Liu & Yadi Run & Oliva Gabriel Chubwa & Guosong Zhao & Jinwei Dong & Yaoping Cui, 2020. "Warming Effort and Energy Budget Difference of Various Human Land Use Intensity: Case Study of Beijing, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-15, August.
    4. Ran Goldblatt & Abdullah Addas & Daynan Crull & Ahmad Maghrabi & Gabriel Gene Levin & Steven Rubinyi, 2021. "Remotely Sensed Derived Land Surface Temperature (LST) as a Proxy for Air Temperature and Thermal Comfort at a Small Geographical Scale," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-24, April.
    5. Abdullah Addas & Ahmad Maghrabi & Ran Goldblatt, 2021. "Public Open Spaces Evaluation Using Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) in Saudi Universities: The Case of King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.
    6. Qian Dong & Qiuliang Zhang, 2022. "The Estimation of a Remote Sensing Model of Three-Dimensional Green Space Quantity and Research into Its Cooling Effect in Hohhot, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-21, August.
    7. Abdullah Addas & Ahmad Maghrabi, 2020. "A Proposed Planning Concept for Public Open Space Provision in Saudi Arabia: A Study of Three Saudi Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-36, August.
    8. Abdullah Addas & Ahmad Maghrabi, 2021. "Role of Urban Greening Strategies for Environmental Sustainability—A Review and Assessment in the Context of Saudi Arabian Megacities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, June.

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