Assessment of urban land surface temperature intensity over four cities in different ecological zones of Nigeria

By Ayansina Ayanlade (University of Vienna) |

This study examines the contributions of different land cover types and variation in ecological locations on the intensity of urban LST over four major cities in the different ecological zone of Nigeria. Remote Sensing techniques were used to measure the LST intensity over different cities.  The contributions of different landscape types to urban LST intensity were examined, using contribution index (CI) and Landscape index (LI) methods. The results revealed that the spatial and temporal changes in the LULC have greatly influenced the LST in the cities, though this varies from identified LULC. Changes in estimated LST vary from 0.120 C to 10 C yearly, while the changes are much intensified in the core section of the cities. The contribution of each landscapes varies, -0.25 < CI > -1.17 for sink landscape and 0.24 < CI > 1.05 for source landscape. The results further reveal that as LI >  1, the contribution of source landscape to intensity of LST is lesser than that of sink landscape, but LI <  1 shows that source landscapes contribute more to intensity of LST than sink landscapes. This might be as a result of changes in the vegetation cover between 1984 and 2019 as revealed in LULC change. Loss in the vegetal cover is anthropogenically induced leading to an increase in built-up and impervious surfaces resulted in mean monthly and yearly temperature changes. It is observed that the core and densities areas of cities witnessed higher LST compared with the rural area.