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Exploring the relationship between land surface temperature and vegetation abundance for urban heat island mitigation in Seville, Spain

Farina, Andrew LU (2012) In LUMA-GIS Thesis GISM01 20102
Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
Abstract
Scientific summary
The environmental and social consequences of predicted climate change are expected to be amplified in urban environments due to their elevated temperatures, which are attributable to a phenomenon known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI). As vegetation can provide for cooler microclimates through the process of evapotranspiration, increasing amounts of urban vegetation might prove to be a highly effective solution for reducing UHI intensity, thereby mitigating some of the worst effects of predicted climate change. Land Surface Temperatures (LSTs) are considered to be a reliable indicator of the UHI as there is generally a close correlation between LSTs and near-surface air temperatures. Moreover, the Normalized Difference... (More)
Scientific summary
The environmental and social consequences of predicted climate change are expected to be amplified in urban environments due to their elevated temperatures, which are attributable to a phenomenon known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI). As vegetation can provide for cooler microclimates through the process of evapotranspiration, increasing amounts of urban vegetation might prove to be a highly effective solution for reducing UHI intensity, thereby mitigating some of the worst effects of predicted climate change. Land Surface Temperatures (LSTs) are considered to be a reliable indicator of the UHI as there is generally a close correlation between LSTs and near-surface air temperatures. Moreover, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is widely recognized as a reliable indicator of vegetation abundance. This thesis employed remote sensing and geographic information systems to explore the interactions between LST and NDVI based on land-use/land-cover (LULC) type in Seville, Spain. The findings showed that within the city of Seville, LST and NDVI shared an inverse relationship, implying that an increase in vegetation abundance would generally reduce surface temperatures, and thus UHI intensity. However, this relationship demonstrated that there are distinct differences depending on LULC type. This indicates that increasing the amount of vegetation, with the goal of decreasing UHI intensity, is more effective within certain LULC types than in others. This study therefore illuminated which types of actions would be most conducive to mitigating Seville’s UHI. (Less)
Abstract
Popular summary
The environmental and social consequences of predicted climate change are expected to be amplified in urban environments due to their elevated temperatures, which are attributable to a phenomenon known as the Urban Heat Island. As most types of vegetation can provide for cooler air temperatures due to their natural cooling effect, increasing amounts of vegetation in urban areas might prove to be a highly effective solution for reducing Urban Heat Island intensity, thereby mitigating some of the worst effects of predicted climate change. This thesis employed remote sensing and geographic information systems to explore the relationship between Urban Heat Island conditions and vegetation abundance based on land-use type in... (More)
Popular summary
The environmental and social consequences of predicted climate change are expected to be amplified in urban environments due to their elevated temperatures, which are attributable to a phenomenon known as the Urban Heat Island. As most types of vegetation can provide for cooler air temperatures due to their natural cooling effect, increasing amounts of vegetation in urban areas might prove to be a highly effective solution for reducing Urban Heat Island intensity, thereby mitigating some of the worst effects of predicted climate change. This thesis employed remote sensing and geographic information systems to explore the relationship between Urban Heat Island conditions and vegetation abundance based on land-use type in Seville, Spain. The findings showed that within the city of Seville, an increase in vegetation abundance would generally reduce Urban Heat Island intensity. However, this relationship demonstrated that there are distinct differences depending on land-use type. This indicates that increasing the amount of vegetation, with the goal of decreasing Urban Heat Island intensity, may be more effective within certain land-use types than in others. The study therefore illuminated which types of actions would be most conducive to mitigating Seville’s Urban Heat Island. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Farina, Andrew LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Exploring the relationship between urban heat island conditions and vegetation abundance
course
GISM01 20102
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
physical geography and ecosystem analysis, Urban Heat Island, land surface temperature, normalized difference vegetation index, land-use/land-cover, climate change
publication/series
LUMA-GIS Thesis
report number
15
language
English
id
3460284
date added to LUP
2013-02-11 15:15:22
date last changed
2013-02-11 15:15:22
@misc{3460284,
  abstract     = {{Popular summary
The environmental and social consequences of predicted climate change are expected to be amplified in urban environments due to their elevated temperatures, which are attributable to a phenomenon known as the Urban Heat Island. As most types of vegetation can provide for cooler air temperatures due to their natural cooling effect, increasing amounts of vegetation in urban areas might prove to be a highly effective solution for reducing Urban Heat Island intensity, thereby mitigating some of the worst effects of predicted climate change. This thesis employed remote sensing and geographic information systems to explore the relationship between Urban Heat Island conditions and vegetation abundance based on land-use type in Seville, Spain. The findings showed that within the city of Seville, an increase in vegetation abundance would generally reduce Urban Heat Island intensity. However, this relationship demonstrated that there are distinct differences depending on land-use type. This indicates that increasing the amount of vegetation, with the goal of decreasing Urban Heat Island intensity, may be more effective within certain land-use types than in others. The study therefore illuminated which types of actions would be most conducive to mitigating Seville’s Urban Heat Island.}},
  author       = {{Farina, Andrew}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{LUMA-GIS Thesis}},
  title        = {{Exploring the relationship between land surface temperature and vegetation abundance for urban heat island mitigation in Seville, Spain}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}